Mercy Hospital makes appeal for equipment donations

Some of the Emergency Department team in the Mercy University Hospital, Cork pictured with members of RACO, Defence Forces Corps of Engineers, and Óglaigh na hÉireann / Irish Defence Forces outside the temporary Emergency Department extension outside the hospital

Mercy University Hospital in Cork wants people to help it buy vital equipment to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.

The public acute hospital is preparing for a surge in the number of patients who have become seriously ill with the coronavirus over the coming days.

Money raised from the public appeal will be used to buy intensive care beds as well as intravenous pumps, syringes and portable suction machines to help patients with their breathing.

Chief executive of the Mercy University Hospital Foundation, Mícheál Sheridan, said any donation will contribute to the effort to purchase critical equipment:

“It will also ensure that a team of clinical psychologists will be on hand to help our frontline staff through this crisis by giving them the emotional support they need to keep going."

“We are so grateful to all of the staff at the Mercy and to those who have returned to the frontline. They spend their lives putting others before themselves and now it’’s our duty to help them.”

Cork has the second-highest number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 cases in Ireland and staff at the hospital are bracing themselves to receive a record number of patients within days.

Dr Chris Luke, who worked as an emergency consultant at the hospital, came out of retirement to join the frontline during the health crisis.

He is urging people in Cork and Munster to support the hospitals Covid-19 fundraising appeal, emphasising that it is needed now more than ever.

“Right now, staff at the Mercy University Hospital are responding magnificently to prepared for the task ahead of them,” he said.

However, Dr Luke said there is only so much that doctors, nurses and staff can do with the current resources: “We expect there to be a big surge in the number of Covid-19 cases arriving at the Mercy University Hospital over the coming days and weeks.

A former Emergency Physician at the Mercy University Hospital, Dr Chris Luke is calling on the public’s support which he says is needed now more than ever.

"This will put huge pressure on beds, space equipment and staff."

Dr Luke said many patients will need to be treated in the hospital’’s intensive care unit and they will need to buy more ICU beds as well as additional medical supplies: “Your support will help us bridge the gap between our ICU and the rest of the hospital, allowing us to provide the earliest most advanced critical care we can.”

The hospital is already working with members of the defence forces to construct temporary shelters outside the hospital to maximise site capability.

You can donate to the public appeal at:

www.mercyfundraising.ie/covid-19-appeal

or on the Hospital's official Facebook page

The latest restrictions in operation since Friday, March 27 mandate that everyone should stay at home, only leaving to:

• Shop for essential food and household goods;
• Attend medical appointments, collect medicine or other health products;
• Care for children, older people or other vulnerable people - this excludes social family visits;
• Exercise outdoors - within 2kms of your home and only with members of your own household, keeping 2 metres distance between you and other people
• Travel to work if you provide an essential service - be sure to practice social distancing