VIDEO: CUMH welcomes back first baby born there in 2007
The jury was out on whether it would top his birthday pool party, put on hold by his mum Luiza until today, to allow them make the journey from their home in Kenmare, Co Kerry, to the hospital where he was the first baby born on the day it opened, March 31, 2007.
Luiza Poslada, Kacper, and sister Nicola, 5, were invited to the party at CUMH where there is currently much to celebrate.
On Thursday, consultants at CUMH were given a commitment by Health Minister Simon Harris the funding they desperately need to tackle appalling gynaecology outpatient waiting lists is finally on the way — a €7.5m capital investment and a further €6.5m in recurring costs over the next three years.
The hospital has also finally secured the management model it had actively pursued, independent of management at Cork University Hospital. Prof John R Higgins, clinical director, will provide the leadership as well as controlling the budget.
Mr Harris was also present at the CUMH party, albeit less in body than in mind; his good wishes were beamed to the crowd by way of a video recording.
Indeed the hospital foyer was awash with good wishes, not least for the O’Riordan/Connolly family from Passage West who suddenly found themselves caught up in a media maelstrom when they were wheeled out as proud parents of Daniel O’Riordan Connolly, the first baby born on the hospital’s 10th birthday.
Asked how he felt about this unexpected attention, Denis Connolly answered “overwhelmed”. The 10th birthday celebration had caught them on the hop. Mum, Jessica O’Riordan, looked like a lie down would have been preferable given she’d delivered a 7lb 9oz baby shortly after midnight.
But they gamely went along with the show, accepting a lit candle from Kacper as a symbolic passing of the baton from the first baby born at the hospital to the first baby born 10 years on.
Prof Higgins was in celebratory mode. The last 10 years had sped by, he said, with many good memories and the occasional sad one.
Prof Higgins was particularly pleased with the outcome of the Thursday meeting with Mr Harris, describing it as “one of the best visits we ever had to the Department of Health”. “We’ve had bad ones, but this was a good one,” he said.
He had words for Kacper too: “I told Kacper that when he was born he was smiling and that he was the best boy we’ve ever had in 10 years.”
In that decade, the hospital has delivered a phenomenal 86,000 babies, and there is much thanks due to its staff, said Prof Higgins, noting: “That, I can tell you, is a lot of work.”
As the speeches ended and the celebrations headed towards the fifth floor, Kacper remained behind, opening his presents from the hospital. One was a beautiful silver pocket watch marking the date of his birth at CUMH — surely a family heirloom.
The second was a Thornton’s chocolate Gruffalo cake. The third was a €50 All4One voucher. The latter was pronounced the “second best” birthday present — just behind the PS4 game Watchdogs, given to him by his dad. The rest of the presents were on hold until today.
Did he enjoy his time in the spotlight? “I only found out last week that I was coming here but it’s kind of an exciting achievement,” he said.
His classmates at St John’s BNS in Kenmare needed some convincing that he was in the maternity hospital’s history books but all that will be sorted once they see him on TV. His only concern now is whether his relations in Poland will see him.
And they surely can on IrishExaminer.com
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