Working Life: I find resilience in the face of suffering remarkable
Louise, Casey, Principal Medical Social Worker at Our Lady’s Hospice & Care Services in Harolds Cross, Dublin. Picture: Gareth Chaney
“We have a residential rehabilitation unit in Harold’s Cross too for people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease and a separate community rehab unit where we help older people get the most out of their physical abilities.
“We have multidisciplinary teams working across our three sites in Harold’s Cross, Blackrock, and Wicklow and a big part of my role is to provide support and guidance to the team’s social workers.
“One spoke to me recently about a teenager who died in our care. There’s something really poignant about a child dying before their time. I’m in awe of how parents keep going in that situation.
“It was inevitable that I wound up in the caring profession.
“It’s a nice twist of fate that I ended up in Harold’s Cross. I was doing further studies and part of that involved working in a hospice. One of the nuns at Harold’s Cross was a Sr Eucharia, whom my parents knew from the time all three worked at Temple Street Children’s Hospital, where my mother was a nurse, and my father was a doctor. I recall visiting the hospice as a child. It feels like I came full circle.
“Being a social worker in a hospice setting is tough, but I absolutely love my job. Working with like-minded people allows me to do my job in a compassionate way.
“I remember a gentleman with motor neuron disease who had tears rolling down his cheeks but couldn’t wipe them away because he couldn’t use his hands. I wiped his face and he was so grateful.
“That same man could equally be so cheerful. I find resilience in the face of suffering remarkable. It makes what I do worthwhile and meaningful.”
