Lucille’s mission to help save babies - from Cork to Africa

Neonatal nurse Lucille Bradfield is entitled to put her feet up.

She retired as clinical nurse manager of the Neonatal Unit in Cork University Maternity Hospital in 2022 and might have been expected to settle into a quiet life - some gardening (she grows excellent strawberries), daytime television, the odd coffee morning.

Instead, she packed her bags for Uganda. “I couldn’t just stop,” she says. “That would drive me crazy.”

Throughout her 40-year career, Lucille cared for the most vulnerable of babies and played her part in transforming neonatal care in Cork, firstly in the Erinville Hospital and later in the Neonatal Unit in CUMH, one of the busiest neonatal units in the country with 7,500 births per year.

Around 1 in 6 of all babies born in CUMH will require admission to the neonatal unit, and care ranges from supporting babies for a few hours to supporting premature babies over months. Lucille lost count of the number of babies she took care of over the years, but thousands of babies have been the direct and indirect beneficiaries of her skills and knowledge.

I had the privilege of observing Lucille’s quiet dedication both professionally and personally. I produced the RTÉ series From Here To Maternity in CUMH over a decade ago and she was the steady manager, ensuring everything was just so in advance of any filming.

When my own baby spent time in the Neo, she was the reassuring face there first thing in the morning and long after her 12-hour shift ended.

The Neo is a special place because of people like Lucille, who go above and beyond to mind babies and their parents. However, she baulks at individual praise, because she knows the success of the unit is built on the collaborative efforts of an excellent team of specialists.

Now, in her retirement, Lucille is a volunteer with a group of paediatric and neonatal specialists who travel to Uganda to train healthcare workers on essential paediatric resuscitation skills and early illness recognition - skills that are critical in resource-limited settings. Partnering with Nurture Africa, their goal is simple but transformative; by empowering local health workers with lifesaving skills, the survival rates of newborns and children will improve.

Her most recent trip took her to a compound in Nansana, a suburb of Kampala. “It’s right in the middle of nowhere,” she says. Nurses, midwives, and doctors from across Uganda came to the clinic to train in neonatal resuscitation, focusing on supporting newborns in those crucial first minutes after birth.

Some of those newly-trained health care workers will go on to become trainers themselves, and so, vital knowledge is spread.

Lucille’s passion for neonatal training began decades ago in the Erinville Hospital, when Professor Tony Ryan introduced modern resuscitation programmes to maternity hospitals across the country. “Back then, care was very basic,” Lucille recalls. “Tony came back from Canada and realised we needed neonatal resuscitation training. That was the beginning.”

Lucille worked alongside Ryan, learning and then helping to train staff across Ireland, and is very grateful for the opportunity to work alongside such an esteemed colleague and to play a pivotal role in establishing a neonatal nurse training programme in Cork.

“When I think about it now,” she says, “it reminds me so much of what we’re doing in Africa, that same sense of starting small and building something lasting.”

Tony Ryan passed away unexpectedly in November, 2023. “It was such a shock,” she says. “He’d done so much for so many people.”

Prof Ryan left the world a better place and is remembered for his care and compassion to his patients and the development of a neonatal resuscitation programme across the island. His legacy is enormous.

This month, on his second anniversary, Lucille is raising funds in his memory, for the same kind of training he kickstarted in Ireland. “I’m not comparing myself to him in a million years,” she insists. “But I think it’s a lovely way to honour what he started.”

Flights to Uganda are sometimes sponsored, but Lucille covers her own expenses. The funds raised in Ireland help Ugandans.

“The fundraising goes to the local trainees - to bring them to the centre, feed them, and buy the equipment they need.” Mannequins, medical supplies, and teaching aids are all expensive. “That’s what I’m fund-raising for,” she says. “Not my flight. It’s for them.”

Lucille’s home has become her fundraising headquarters. “We’re having a coffee morning soon to raise funds,” she says. “Three of my neighbours are helping me organise it”.

The money raised will go towards the training programmes in Uganda, South Sudan, and Nigeria.

And it’s not just medical supplies she brings. On a recent trip, she brought over suitcases of donated sports gear for street children who play rugby in Uganda. “They had nothing,” she says. “So, a friend collected donated jerseys and shorts for them - all ironed and perfect. The kids were over the moon.”

Looking back on her 40-year career, Lucille has seen neonatal care transform beyond recognition. “When I started, we used to feed babies every three hours and not let parents touch them. Now it’s all about family-centred care, skin-to-skin contact, and understanding the baby’s cues. It’s so much better, for everyone.”

Lucille has had a fascinating career and is still making an incredible impact. “I can’t sit still - I’d rather keep busy and useful.” And that she is.

If you would like to support Nurture Africa, the Paediatric Acute Intervention Resuscitation Skills (PAIRS) course and the good work Lucille and her volunteer colleagues do, see https://www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/PAIRSTTTuganda3