'We see ourselves as something of a family': An emergency department with children in mind

Children deserve a special emergency department, Dr Rory O'Brien tells Collette Sheridan

Dr. Rory O'Brien, consultant in paediatric emergency medicine, Cork University Hospital (CUH). Picture Denis Minihane.

DESPITE being only 12 years old, Emily Booth is something of an old hand at hospital emergency departments (ED) for children. This eloquent girl, who lives in Brighton, was on one of her regular holidays to Cork in August where her mother Noelle O’Riordan is from. She was skateboarding outside her aunt’s house in Carrigaline when she fell and broke her wrist. She has had at least 20 breaks in her young life, a result of having the genetic disorder osteogenesis imperfecta. A collagen imperfection, it causes bones to be brittle and prone to fractures. Emily inherited the condition from her father.

She was treated at the children’s emergency department at Cork University Hospital (CUH) for the accident to her wrist. She had been there twice before, while holidaying in Cork. Emily appreciated the fact that the medics knew immediately what was wrong with her.