| The hospital now completed, the necessary staff were recruited. The first resident medical superintendent was Dr Patrick Moran. He took up duty in early 1932 and remained R.M.S until his retirement in 1959.
An advertisement appeared in all newspapers on the 15th July 1933 for a matron and assistant matron for St Brigid's. Miss Nora Harris O'Connor from Ballinasloe, Co Galway, was appointed matron on the 1st September 1933. She resigned to take up duty as matron of St Ita's, Portrane, on the 31st January 1935. Miss Margaret Mary Rose O'Sullivan from Clonmoyle, Co Cork, was appointed assistant matron when Miss O'Connor resigned.
With the. appointment of the matron and the R.M.S., qualified nurses were recruited. Staff came from hospitals in Mullingar, Dublin, Monaghan and Armagh. Among the staff recruited at that time was Mr John Hennessy, as senior charge nurse and was appointed head male nurse in 1935. He remained head male nurse until his death in 1958.
The first student nurses began their training at St Brigid's Hospital in 1933.
Many patients worked on the farm in the early years and conditions for both patients and staff, despite the fact that the hospital was new, were very much different from what they are today. In 1954 there were 440 patients in the hospital. In 1983 there were 230." |
