FAMOUS DUNDALK NAMES HELP LAUNCH CT SCANNER APPEAL
CAMPAIGN TO RAISE €1`MILLION FOR VITAL PIECE OF EQUIPMENT AT LOUTH COUNTY HOSPITAL
May 2005
STEPHEN Staunton, Jamie Belton, the Crimmins triplets and Gerry Corr help launch a €1 million fundraising drive for a CT scanner for Louth county hospital.
The future of the hospital is in jeopardy without the vital piece of radiography equipment, says clinician Dr. Aidan Quinn at The Four Seasons Hotel, Carlingford.
The appeal is being led by the Louth Hospital Support Group, headed by Aideen Lynch and Claire Bishop.
Dr. Quinn explains that in previous years a CT scanner would have been regarded as a high-tech piece of equipment, but recently it has become essential to providing a basic standard of care.
With the facility not available in Dundalk, patients have to be transferred to Drogheda for a scan.
‘Every year, 1600 patients are being sent from the Louth to Drogheda, which doesn’t include the 200-plus patients who are not fit to travel, even by ambulance, and these are the people who need a scan most.’
Dr. Quinn also points out that securing a CT scanner is the most urgent need of the Dundalk hospital.
Without vital services such as a CT scanner, a hospital would eventually not be considered for accreditation by the Royal College of Surgeons, adds Dr. Tom O’Callaghan, chairman of the hospital’s medical board.
‘ The simple fact is if you don’t have accreditation from them, this leads to concerns about cover being made available by insurance companies.’
Claire Bishop, vice-chairperson of the support group, remarks space is available within the radiography department, so that putting a scanner in use would not require planning permission.
‘I know this is a lot of money to raise, and that it is a very ambitious plan, but we are confident the money can be raised, which would mean a scanner operational in nine months’ time.’
She thanks footballer Stephen Staunton, actor Jamie Belton, model triplets Alison, Laura and Nicola Crimmins, and Gerry Corr, father of The Corrs for their support.
Jamie tells of his pride in being from Dundalk, and says he is delighted to get behind the campaign for a number of reasons.
‘Firstly, I have links to the hospital through my aunt Nonie Belton who has been a superintendent in the radiography department for years.
‘I know that she has given her work her heart and soul, and I would hate to think that she wouldn’t be able to provide a full range of services.’
He continues that even though he hasn’t lived in Dundalk for the last eleven years, he always considers it home, and hopes that one day he will settle down and raise a family here.
‘But I don’t know if I could if there wasn’t a full-service hospital in the town, and it does seem now that without this CT scanner, the hospital will die.’
Meanwhile, Gerry Corr recalls the 10,000 people who marched to the town centre only a few years ago in protest at the closure of facilities such as the maternity ward.
He officially launches the CT scanner appeal, saying all Dundalk people should support the campaign, and secure the future of the Louth as a full service hospital.