Working Life: We're urging young people to consider donating blood

Orla O’Brien, CEO, Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS)

Orla O’Brien, CEO, Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS)

“I left home in Mitchelstown, Co Cork, aged 17 to train as a nurse in Dublin. I was a child of the ’80s, and at that time, you took the first offer that came along. Fortunately, healthcare was my passion from day one.

“My identical twin sister Dervila and I trained in Crumlin Children’s Hospital and St James’s Hospital. We were two of the first paediatric intensive care nurses trained in Ireland.