Hospital celebrates 165 years of service

FINE GAEL councillor Deirdre Forde, the mayor of Cork City, visited the Mercy University Hospital this week to celebrate the hospital’s 165 years of service to the people of Cork and the wider region.

Ms Forde celebrated the city’s historic link with MUH by visiting the hospital and Mansion House — the oldest part of the hospital and the former mayor’s residence.

The Mansion House was originally built for the Lord Mayor in 1767 to reflect the growing status of Cork as a mercantile port and centre of commerce. However, in 1841, due to financial difficulties, it ceased to be the official residence of the Lord Mayor with Thomas Lyons being the last mayor to live at the Mansion House.

The house subsequently served as a seminary before becoming a hospital for the sick poor of Cork.

The hospital opened its doors on March 17, 1857, under the stewardship of four Sisters of Mercy, with 40 beds, and treated eight patients on that first day. Today, the Mercy University Hospital is a modern 337-bed acute hospital.

The hospital now has a presence on the northside of the city on St Mary’s Health Campus. It recently moved its Medical Oncology Day service to the Lee Road Clinic. The Mercy provides several outreach services to the community, including the Paediatric Oncology Outreach Nursing Service.

“This anniversary is an opportunity to honour and celebrate the past and present of the Mercy while preparing to embrace the next 165 years,” said values and culture lead at MUH, Siobhán Kenny.

“It is a time to honour those who have brought us to this place.

“It is a time to be inspired by the rich legacy that has been handed on to us, and it is a time to reaffirm what the Mercy means each day through our individual and collective encounters and connections with our patients, our community, and each other”.