Matron remembered with deep gratitude

A LINK with the long campaign that succeeded in having Mallow Hospital upgraded to double consultant status has been severed with the death of a woman who was centrally involved.

Mary Coughlan, who spent 21 years as matron at the hospital, has ever since been held in the highest regard by the people of north Cork.

A native of Clashagarriff, Dunmanway, she trained as a nurse in London during the blitz. She later worked in Dublin before coming to the South Infirmary, Cork, as a theatre sister. She was assistant matron at St Mary’s Orthopaedic Hospital, before being appointed at Mallow.

Ms Coughlan was in charge of what was then Mallow County Hospital during the traumatic years when it was proposed to reduce its status to that of a community health centre.

But she took a courageous stand in support of the eventually successful efforts to have it upgraded and developed into a double consultant general hospital serving a catchment area of 75,000 people.

The hospital, during her time, also earned a national reputation for the life-saving services it provided in the aftermath of the Buttevant rail train disaster in 1980.

Joe Sherlock, TD, chairman, Mallow General Hospital Action Committee, said Ms Coughlan made a huge contribution in convincing Comhairle na nOspidéal about the benefits of having a general hospital in Mallow.

Ms Coughlan, a keen golfer, went to reside in Bealad, Rossmore, in her beloved west Cork, on her retirement.