Considering Grace by Gladys Ganiel;Jamie Yohanis;

Author:Gladys Ganiel;Jamie Yohanis; [Неизв.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781785372919
Publisher: Lightning Source Inc. (Tier 2)
Published: 2019-09-07T21:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 6

Emergency Responders and Health Care Workers

People who worked in the emergency services and in health care were on the front lines of dealing with the death, injury and destruction of the Troubles. We spoke to doctors and nurses, other medical professionals, General Practitioners (GPs), people in the Ambulance and Fire Services, and a funeral director. Some worked in Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital. The Royal was described as being located in a ‘war zone’, and was guarded day and night by police and army. Medical professionals there developed some of the world’s most advanced techniques for dealing with traumatic injuries. Others worked in regional hospitals, general practices and border areas.

Emergency responders and health care workers were trained to treat all patients equally. This code was core to their professionalism and everyone we spoke with lived this as a matter of course. What they experienced made them angry or sad, but they ‘just got on with it’. In the early days of the Troubles, their employers made no provision for their mental health – and rarely did their ministers or congregations acknowledge the stress they endured. They relied on prayer and the support of their medical colleagues. Many were leaders in their communities and tried to set a good example by living as ‘normally’ as possible in their everyday lives. Most who spoke about the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s (PCI) responses to the Troubles believed it had not done enough to promote peacemaking. Others said Rev. Ian Paisley had caused untold damage to their church, not to mention the wider society. Some spoke about how their work convinced them that Northern Ireland’s future depends on forgiveness, while others claimed reconciliation was too much to ask.

‘Armed police would have been guarding the doors in hospital.’

Hannah began nursing in Belfast in the late 1970s. ‘Armed police would have been guarding the doors in hospital. That was just the norm.’ After one bomb attack, the perpetrator and one of the victims were treated on the same ward. ‘It was only an eight-bed ward. That didn’t pose a problem because everyone was treated equal.’ She was on duty the night Bobby Sands was brought in during his hunger strike. ‘I remember going for our tea at the canteen and coming back and the walls were just lined with police and army.’

When she was a teenager, Hannah’s father, who served part-time in the security forces, was injured in an off-duty attack. He died a few years later. There were other victims in her congregation. ‘In our church, the importance of prayer and taking your feelings to God were emphasised. Treating everybody with respect and dignity is what the church teaches.’ She translated that message into her nursing. ‘I always felt compassionate and treated people equally and fairly. If you were worried about something, you took it to God in prayer.’

Hannah’s congregation did not talk about the Troubles. ‘They were private people. Everybody was hurting at that stage. There was fear as well.’ She appreciated her minister’s support and felt ministers’ own mental health was neglected.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.