June 2017 Issue 6 - Volume 18
No.1in the No.2 Business...
• Septic Tank Cleaning • Emergency Service Call Out • Odours Investigated • High Velocity Water Jetting • CCTV Drain Inspection • Domestic Drain Cleaning • Commercial Drain Cleaning • Man Hole Covers Replaced • Annual Maintenance Contracts
email: wimsey@eircom.net
Contact Damien: 087 297 4842 or 071 916 8086
Midweek offers from €59 per room DRUMSHANBO, CO LEITRIM For Bookings or enquiries contact reservations on 071-9640100 www.loughallenhotel.com
Time ‘critical’ for some public health patients - Ballymote couple’s dilemma
W
Sonas’ Riverview Nursing Home opens in Ballina
Pictured at Ballina’s Riverview Nursing Home Open Day last week were (left to right): Gerry Jordan, Sonas Chairman; Bishop of Killala, Most Rev. Dr. John Fleming; Edel Ryan, Riverview Person in Charge, and Rev. Fr. Gerry O’Hora, P.P. Riverview is the latest addition to the Sonas Group, which was established in Roscommon in 2001 with a mission to provide quality nursing home care. Among the other eight homes in the group are: Moy Ridge Nursing Home (Ballina), Cloverhill (Roscommon), Ti Aire (Tallagh, Belmullet) and Ard na Greine, Enniscrone. The group has received many awards for the quality of its services. Photo: John O’Grady Photography.
• 1st and 2nd Fix • Kitchens • Flooring • Roofing • Decking • Wardrobes • Conservatories • A!c Conversions • Bunk Beds
For all your carpentry needs at keen rates
HEN Leo Varadkar was elected Taoiseach last week he outlined his vision to build a “republic of opportunity . . . a republic in which every citizen gets a fair go and has the opportunity to succeed, and in which every part of the country has a chance to share in our prosperity.” His Government has also promised to reform our health service to ensure that same vision for equality permeates, so that everybody has equal access to quality health care. For Ballymote woman , Breda McCoiligh, all of these aspirations may sound hollow as she fears her husband, Eamon, may not survive a possible two-year waiting list for a vital heart operation. Her story, aired on Joe Duffy’s Liveline last week, presents yet another example of the inequality within our archaic health services system. Eamon, who suffers from Atrial Fibulation (causing an irregular heartbeat), has suffered seven potentially-fatal cardioversions in the past 15 months - two of which happened within just 12 hours of each other. Breda recounted her many “life and death” dashes by car to Sligo hospital as an ambulance would take too long. Eamon urgently needs a pulmonary vein isolation day procedure on his heart, but has been informed it could take up to two years to get it done on the public system. In January they had been told that due to the severity of his condition it was hoped to have the procedure carried out within three months, but so far it hadn’t happened. Said Breda: “I was told if he went private he could have it done by next week.” The cost of the procedure could be up to €28,000; they are just pensioners and can’t afford the hospital’s repayment plan. Time is moving on and her husband is getting weaker and weaker. Undoubtedly, their experience is replicated elsewhere under the current inequitable system. Mr. Varadkar may have hopes and aspirations but let’s hope reform will not come too late for Eamon, Breda and others at the mercy of our public health system.
WESTERN WINDOWS & GLASS
Aluminimum, PVC-U Windows, Doors & Conservatories
Add Extra Room to your home! A cost-effective way to add an extra room to your house. Doors can be positioned on any of the three sides of the conservatory for maximum choice and flexibiliy. Lead-free A1 rated windows
Suitable for most bungalow s
Abbey Business Park, Ardnaree, Ballina, Co. Mayo Tel: 096-25514 / 096-75521 / 086-8171442
FREE EVERY MONTH THROUGHOUT SLIGO, MAYO, ROSCOMMON, DONEGAL & LEITRIM