CORK nurse Patricia McCluskey has been named Cork Person of the Month for May in honour of her work as an advanced nurse practitioner at Cork University Hospital (CUH) and her work with charity Facing Africa (FA).

Ms McCluskey was at the forefront of the battle against Covid-19, working on the frontline with patients as a wound care nurse at CUH, a role she has been working in for over 30 years, to treat and minimise further discomfort to people hospitalised due to the virus.

In 2015, Pat became involved with FA, a charity which helps with the treatment of people suffering from Noma, an infection that affects people living in extreme poverty that leads to a severe disfiguring gangrene of the mouth and face.

Having spent two years in Zambia as a newly qualified nurse and midwife from 1983 to1985, she returned to Africa in 2015 and has travelled with a group led by FA founders Chris and Terry Lawrence, to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia for the last four years since.

The training that the teams have provided on the missions has allowed Ethiopian nurses to gain sufficient experience, reducing the number of volunteer nurses required on future missions.

Ms McCluskey said that the work she does is not for recognition and was “delighted” to receive the award.

She said that the May missions with FA include a lot of “fun and laughter” with the welcoming and fun-loving people of Ethiopia and labelled Chris and Terry Lawrence as “extraordinary people” who run a “superb operation”.

Speaking about her recent involvement in the battle against Covid-19, she said: “I am proud to be a nurse in CUH during this current epidemic where the management and team work across all disciplines has been inspirational.”

She will now go forward for possible selection as Cork Person of the Year.