Working Life: I treat children I first met as babies
Professor Damien Kenny, consultant cardiologist, Children’s Health Ireland. Picture: Moya Nolan
I spend the first 10 minutes of my day on our rowing machine. Sometimes, my son Elijah joins me, which is nice - it’s a moment of connection.
I try to cycle [to work] most days. I work at the Mater one or two days a week and CHI at Crumlin for the remainder.
It’s busy but rewarding as I treat children I first met as babies. One of the best parts of my job is getting to work with tremendously brave young patients.
At CHI at Crumlin, I go straight to meet the day’s first patient and their family. We talk through their procedure, the pros and cons, and what happens next. I then head to the cardiac cath lab for a debrief with the rest of the surgical team. We go through the day’s cases and what might be challenging.
My first patient might be a baby born prematurely, weighing less than a kilo, my next patient could be an 80kg teenager. We close holes in their hearts, balloon narrowed valves. We can now replace valves through a person’s leg instead of open-heart surgery, which means a lot less recovery time. Post-surgery, I talk with my patient and their family to let them know how everything went.
After completing two procedures, I step away to refuel. Self-care is a really important part of longevity and being able to do a good job. I’m quite disciplined on this.
In the afternoon, there are more procedures: we usually have four cases a day. All our patients who have surgery as a child need ongoing follow-up care.
Patients needing routine follow-up can now access it closer to home thanks to the All-Island Congenital Heart Disease Network. Instead of driving to Crumlin, they can be seen by a specialist more locally. It’s about trying to facilitate what’s best for patients, and it frees up space in CHI at Crumlin.
They still stay on the books and come into us if they need to. This is part of a Family-Led Review or Patient-Initiated Review, which empowers them to request a review appointment when they feel it’s required.
I dine with my wife Jemma and twins Elijah and Alva, who are studying for the Junior Cert. Life can get so busy that it’s easy to forget to spend time with family, so evenings are our time.
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