Corkonians Abroad: The Welsh are like the Irish, we have felt right at home from day one

This week, I caught up with Lisa Coghlan, from Gurranabraher, who has made Cardiff her home, along with her husband, Darragh, and their son Finn, and dog Milo.

How did you end up in Cardiff, Wales?

I am originally from Cork city; I grew up in Gurranabraher. I met my partner (now husband) in 2010 after returning from a year travelling in Australia.

We met while working in the Carrigaline Court Hotel. I was working as a gym instructor, and he was working part-time as a lifeguard while he studied to be a Quantity Surveyor in CIT at the time.

We were together for three years before my husband moved to Wales to study Paramedic Science in Swansea University in 2013.

We lived apart for the year while he was in his first year. I stayed home in Ireland and helped support him.

I always wanted to be a paramedic too, so I decided to apply to Swansea University also, and I was successful in securing a place on the course.

The original plan was that he was going to return home after the two years studying. But I moved over in 2014.

We lived in Swansea during our studies. We overlapped studying for a year, and then my husband qualified in 2015 and was successful in securing a job in Cardiff city, the capital of Wales, with the Welsh Ambulance Service.

So, he commuted to work in Cardiff from Swansea while I finished my second year and he helped to support me through this year.

I qualified in 2016 and secured a job as a paramedic with The Welsh ambulance service also. So, we moved to Cardiff in 2016 and have remained here since.

We have both progressed rapidly in our careers. My husband now works with The Wales Air Ambulance as a Critical Care Practitioner and I now work as Health Board Clinical Lead for Cardiff and the Vale Locality within the Welsh Ambulance Service.

Fifty per cent of my role still involves being clinical, practicing as a paramedic, while the other fifty per cent is office-based.

I have worked in different roles within the Welsh Ambulance Service such a Clinical Team Leader, Duty Operations Manager, and a Senior Paramedic prior to my current role.

What is life like in your new home?

Life is great, we love Cardiff, and the Welsh people are amazing. They have made us feel so welcome from day one.

We bought a house in 2020 during Covid and have settled lovely in our new home.

The biggest challenge is being away from family and friends. We both miss home a lot for this reason. There is no place like home really. So, we try and visit home a few times a year to combat this.

My husband works shifts, but if he is off, we love to go for cycles, walks down our local beach, or use the gym at the weekends.

We got married in 2022 back home in Cork. We had 40 of our colleagues come over to celebrate and they couldn’t believe the experience of an Irish wedding. They all loved it.

More recently, we had a beautiful boy, in July, 2023, and we called him Finn. We recently celebrated his first birthday.

We try and make the most of our weekends, spending quality family time together, as we both have very busy jobs and like to unwind and enjoy the downtime together, be it as a family or with our friends.

We have an amazing network of friends here. We love taken the baby to new places and making memories with our dog Milo.

Tell me a bit about the culture of where you live?

Cardiff is a hub for the arts, hosting performances from opera to contemporary dance. It is known as the UK’s first music city, with a thriving scene that includes the Welsh National Opera and BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

The city hosts numerous galleries and art events, including the Artes Mundi prize and exhibitions at the Chapter Arts Centre.

While English is predominantly spoken, Welsh is also widely used.

Cardiff is home to a diverse population, with more than 94 languages spoken, including Somali, Urdu, Bengali, and Arabic.

Wales is very similar to Ireland and the Welsh people are lovely. They’re very similar to us. We have felt right at home from day one.

Tell us about your career?

We both moved to Swansea to study initially as Paramedic Science wasn’t an option in university back home in Ireland. When I qualified in 2016, I worked on the frontline as a paramedic for three years.

I then progressed into a management role and became a Clinical Team Leader, which was a very varied role, from responding as a paramedic on a rapid response vehicle to dealing with day-to-day operational issues.

I decided I wanted to go back to a more clinically-led role, so I became a Senior Paramedic in 2021. This role involved mentoring and clinically observing staff for fifty per cent of the role out on emergency ambulances, twenty five per cent responding as a solo responder with enhanced clinically skills, and twenty per cent clinical governance time to provide feedback to crews and undertake clinical investigations, etc.

My role now as Health Board Clinical Lead is to contribute to the Trust’s clinical agenda by providing strong professional clinical leadership for Health Professionals and other allied clinical colleagues over a seven-day working pattern.

It is my responsibility to ensure there is a strong clinical presence within my Health Board area to enable the Trust to operate to the required professional clinical standards.

I work in partnership with senior management teams and Heads of Operations to ensure the development and maintenance of sound clinical performance management arrangements and the development of clinical performance measurement systems.

I am accountable for the improvement of the requisite clinical metrics determined by the organisation, contributing to the overall operational and strategic development of the Trust to deliver clinical services of the highest possible standards.

I am heavily involved in clinical development and delivery. It’s my responsibility to ensure the delivery of key objectives across a broad set of clinical priorities in both the urgent and acute care work streams.

In addition, I work with specialist groups to develop opportunities for the organisation to increase its clinical delivery abilities.

I have completed a BSc in Acute and Critical Care and just recently graduated having completed and MSc in Advanced Clinical Practice.

My husband has also completed the BSc and MSc so it has been a busy few years for us. It has been tough working full-time and studying parttime. We are glad to be finished.

What has been your most memorable moment in your new location?

Our most memorable moment in Wales is having our little boy last year. He is amazing and we are loving parenthood so far.

But we are very proud of all our accomplishments here in Wales, from buying our first home to completing our BSc’s and MSc’s. These have all been huge achievement which we have worked really hard for.

Our wedding weekend two years ago was also amazing, but that was back home in Cork.

We would love to mention all our family and friends but there are too many to name individually. We love and miss them all so much, but we are forever grateful for the love, support and encouragement they have and continue to show us with all we do here in Wales. We would be lost without them.

If you were back In Cork for one day what would the ideal day be for you?

If I was home for one day, I would love to have a cuppa in mum’s while she cooks up the best Irish breakfast as always; spend time with family and friends; take a walk through town and soak up the atmosphere; and maybe have a cheeky KC’s to finish.

What are you looking forward to in the next few months?

We have a lot planned, a few gigs, trip home in September to visit family, another trip home in December for Christmas, and then a skiing trip in March next year.

Is there anything else you miss about Cork?

There is a lot we miss about Cork, friends and family are the biggest thing.

We both used to play sport, my husband used to play rugby and I used to play basketball with Glanmire, so we do miss the sport and the social side of it too.

We miss taking walks in some of our favourite places like Nohoval Cove.