'Nursing is a calling': Meet the nurses who moved to Ireland to work

To mark International Nurses Day on May 12, Jonathan deBurca Butler talks to four members of that noble profession who, like the bulk of Irish nurses, have come from abroad to work and live here

Maridez Abalos (left), who was born and raised in The Philippines, and Salimma John, from Kerala, India, who are based at the Coombe Hospital in Dublin. Picture: Gareth Chaney

WHEN she arrived in Cork 20 years ago, Susan Jacob immediately felt at home.

“I’m from Kerala in India,” says the 43-year-old nurse. “The landscape is very similar to Cork. Mountains, valleys, rivers, and lots of greenery. We also speak very musically in my part of Kerala and quite fast, and I feel Cork people speak very fast. I love the language and slang that Cork people have.”

Susan spent four years studying nursing in India before she came to Ireland in response to an acute shortage of nurses in the Irish health service. Two years after her move, her career at Cork University Hospital began. She started as a staff nurse before moving into geriatric nursing and then adult neurology.

“For some reason, there are lots of nurses from my region,” says Susan, whose home state lies in India’s south-west. “In my own family, I’m a nurse, as is my brother and my mum’s sister. So it seems to be in the blood.”

As her career progression and her desire to adapt and learn has shown, nursing is most certainly in Susan’s blood. Though she is somewhat modest about her input into that progression.

Susan Jacob: 'In my own family, I’m a nurse, as is my brother and my mum’s sister. So it seems to be in the blood.' Picture: Larry Cummins

“You get a lot of support to do more,” she says. “Where I am now is all down to the support I’ve had since I’ve got here; going on courses and gaining knowledge. You get proper guidance and encouragement on where to go in terms of career.”

That guidance now sees Susan taking up yet another role, leading the Pathway to Excellence programme for the American Nurses Credentialing Centre accessible to all acute hospitals in HSE South West.

After stints in Bishopstown and Ballincollig, Susan and her family — her husband and their two teenage sons — moved to Macroom.

“I love every bit of living in Ireland,” she says. “People are very welcoming. They want to know more about where we’re from and the food we eat. They want to know more about our part of the world.

In nursing, things have changed. It’s become very multicultural. A year ago in CUH, we celebrated India Day. 

"The food in the canteen was mostly Indian, and people were very open to it. We hope to do more things like that.”

When Susan’s compatriot, Dyvia Jose, first landed in Ireland in 2004, she spent six months working in a nursing home in Clonmel, Co Tipperary. That introduction to Ireland helped the then 24-year-old to get used to her new surroundings. 

So when the call to join the Cardiothoracic Department in St James’s Hospital Dublin came six months later, she was better set for the task.

“When I came in 2004, things were different,” she says. “Irish people were very curious. They didn’t see that many foreigners back then, and even when I came to Dublin first, I didn’t see many Indians.

Nurse Dyvia Jose at St James's Hospital, Dublin. She came to Ireland in 2004 and says she has integrated well into life here. 'I made friends from work and they became my family.' Picture: Gareth Chaney

“People are very hospitable and friendly, and I have never had any issues with anybody. I made friends from work and they became my family. Our neighbours are also like family to us.”

Dyvia’s observations made the spate of attacks on members of the Indian community towards the end of last year all the more alarming and surprising.

“I was really sad about what happened and I don’t think this reflects the attitude of Irish people. These are isolated. 

My mother would call me and tell me to be careful and I explained to her that I was OK and that I trusted Irish people. It was scary, but it’s not a real reflection on Irish people.

Also from Kerala, maternity nurse Salimma John says she has noticed some “changes in attitude over the past few years, both in the workplace and in wider society”, but when she reflects on her 18 years in Ireland, she says, overall, it has been “a very positive experience”.

“In general, I feel there is openness and diversity, especially at work,” she says. “Many organisations are becoming more inclusive and multi-cultural, and people are more aware of different backgrounds and perspectives. That awareness makes it easier to collaborate and integrate with colleagues from different cultures.

“In wider society, most people are very welcoming. There are occasional challenges and negative perceptions towards immigrants. But overall I see a gradual positive shift.”

This is just as well, because the fact is that without foreign nurses, the Irish health system would quite simply collapse.

According to an Irish Medical Times report from 2024, approximately 54% of practising nurses in Ireland were trained outside the country. This means our nursing population has one of the highest proportions of foreign-trained nurses in the world. In that year alone, more than 78% of new nursing registrants came from overseas.

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Salimma spent the first 10 years of her life in Ireland working in St James’s Hospital in Dublin before moving to the Coombe Hospital in 2018, where she is a senior staff nurse in the operating theatre.

“It’s a high-pressure environment and sometimes the hours can be unpredictable, because surgeries can overrun,” she explains. “You’re spending lots of time standing, so it can be tiring. But I’m happy in my profession.

I like helping people and caring for them when they are sick or in need, and nursing allows me to support patients and their families. It also allows me to develop professionally and personally.

Salimma’s colleague, Maridez Abalos, spent seven years working in a nursing home in Dalkey before she began her career in The Coombe.

Born and raised in Manila in the Philippines, she was “drawn to Ireland by the career opportunities” and by this country’s reputation for “being family-orientated and having a good work-life balance”.

She now lives in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, with her husband and their three-year-old daughter, who she describes as their little miracle. For 10 years, in her role in the Coombe’s Emergency Department, Maridez saw little miracles every day.

“An ER (emergency room) in a maternity hospital can be very difficult,” says the 50-year-old. 

If we got an emergency caesarean, the baby has to be out in less than a minute. And you can see 20 people suddenly descend upon a room. That’s how fast it can be. 

"It’s great. I loved working in the theatre.”

Though the fast-paced nature and reward of the ER appealed to her nursing instincts, Maridez has recently taken the decision to step back and is taking on a new role in the Women’s Health Unit.

“I’ve been there for two months now, and I really love it,” she says. “It’s quite similar, but the cases are minor and patients are fully conscious, so it’s more interactive and communicative.

“At the same time, I’m studying for a postgraduate diploma in wound management and tissue viability in the Royal College of Surgeons In Ireland, so I hope this will open doors for me in the future because I can’t be running all over the place if I’m 55 or 60, so I’m preparing for the future.”

That future will likely see more and more foreign-trained nurses coming to these shores to keep our healthcare system and our ageing population going.

“As a nurse, I am very proud,” says Dyvia. “It is a group effort and it’s not just about the foreign nurses, it’s all of us. I think nursing has made me a better person. I have seen people being born, I have been with people as they’re dying, I have seen people going through the biggest struggles in their lives with a smile.

“Nursing is still very difficult. There are lots of sacrifices, lots of hard work, lots of night shifts, so if you’re not really into it, you won’t last. It’s a calling.”

A calling that the rest of us in Irish society are eternally grateful for.