INTERVIEW Palliative-care nurse Áine Kelly

CARPE DIEM Working in palliative care has taught Áine Kelly the importance of living every day to the full.?Pic: Conor McKeown


Privileged to care


Ciara Galvin talks to palliative care nurse Áine Kelly about her work and why she loves it

For those nearing their final days, whether they are in the winter of their lives or coping with the reality of life being cut short due to serious illness, support and reassurance are vital.
For Áine Kelly, a Palliative Care Nurse with Mayo/Roscommon Hospice, support and reassurance comes hand in hand with the pain relief and symptom control she provides to people she gives care to.
Working as part of a team of ten palliative-care nurses, Áine and her team care for an average of 120 people and their families every week. Speaking to The Mayo News, the mother of two explains that her work doesn’t exclusively mean helping people who are nearing the end of their lives, and that changing that perception can be difficult.
Palliative-care nurses also care for patients on active chemotherapy who are ‘quite well’, but may need advice on symptoms. Other patients have motor neuron disease or multiple sclerosis.
Áine, who hails from Claremorris, studied nursing in University College Galway, graduating in 1989. She then completed a diploma in oncology nursing. Áine subsequently spent 14 years as an Oncology nurse, and it was this that led her to a career in palliative care.
“For me, the palliative care side of it [oncology nursing] was the missing link. We would give people chemotherapy and then they might stop treatment or they would become too ill to continue and we didn’t see them again. So for me palliative care was the natural progression,” said Áine.
Working as part of a community-based service, Áine and the team provide expert care and support to people in their homes, in district hospitals and in nursing homes. For her, the most rewarding aspect of her job is giving people care in what she describes as ‘a very personal and intimate time’.
“It’s a very intimate time of people’s lives. When someone has a serious illness, there are not many people involved in their care and I always feel very privileged to be allowed into people’s homes because it is a very personal and private time for them,” she revealed.
When it comes to empowering people and helping families cope, Áine’s training in communication and listening skills have been invaluable. She also says that building a rapport with the person needing care helps to reduce what their fears, which can sometimes feel overwhelming.
“An earlier referral to our service means we have the chance to build a relationship with people, rather than people being referred to us in the very latter stages of their lives. If we’re involved earlier I think the rapport that’s built is hugely important in our ability to address issues that might be problematic for patients or family members.”
Helping people at the most vulnerable time of their lives has had a lasting effect on Áine, who says she appreciates her health, family and career every day. She’s also a firm believer in ‘carpe diem’ – seize the day. “I tend not to put things off and I always try to fit as much into life now at this very moment,” she explained.
Áine acknowledged that it can be tough to strike an emotional balance while always being professional, and admits that ‘being human’ inevitably results in close friendships and attachments. Such attachments are inevitable, given the situations. Often the care is provided over long periods of time, sometimes several years, allowing strong relationships to form between the nurses, their patients and their families – though bonds are created even with short-term care.
After-care for the family is important too. “We always call and offer bereavement support and usually make a visit to the families. We also have a medical social worker on our home care team if more specialised care is needed,” Áine explained.
When asked what she saw as the most important aspect of her role, Áine put extra emphasis on letting patients and their families know that they’re doing OK. “Family members often find the illness symptoms as difficult as the person who is ill. A lot of our job is supporting, advising and confirming to them that they’re doing a good job and doing all that they can do.
Summing up her role as supporting the family and the patient so they can ‘cope as well as they can’, Áine insists that the work she does isn’t as exceptional as people think. “All of us have chosen to do this type of work, and as a job, most days are pretty good,” she said, adding that ‘it’s not as scary as it sounds’.

CLUB STARS
Mayo/Roscommon Hospice is the chosen charity for this year’s Mayo News/O’Neills Club Stars awards in Knockranny House Hotel, Westport on Saturday, December 15. The night will include a glittering awards ceremony to honour the stars of Mayo club football, a four-course banquet and music ’til late. All proceeds of from the night will go to Mayo/Roscommon Hospice. For more information, contact Cepta at The Mayo News on 098 25311.