CARRIGART GP, Dr Diarmuid Mee is set to retire this June after more than thirty years practicing medicine.

Ahead of the milestone, he spoke to the Donegal News about some of the highlights of his career and his plans for retirement.

Originally from Andersonstown, Dr Mee grew up in west Belfast in the height of the Troubles.

He went on to study in Dublin before spending a year working in Letterkenny General Hospital in 1982 and fell in love with Donegal. He married a woman from Carrigart and became an integral part of the community in the seaside village.

“The most important thing in my career has been Mevagh Day Centre for senior citizens. I have been involved with it since it started and I will continue to support it when I retire,” said Dr Mee.

“I am very proud of that. I came here in 1985 and I did a survey after a few years and found there was a lot of older people living on their own. They had daily visitors and they weren’t isolated but they didn’t get to meet people of their own age.”

Recognising the need for somewhere for older people to come together with their peers Dr Mee became involved in setting up the facility which has been very successful over the last three decades and is an important part of the community.

Speaking about some of the highlights of his career Dr Mee said the stand out moment for him was when he was able to administer the first Covid-19 vaccine to people over 85 last year.

“Basically you had people that were in solitary confinement for a year, cut off from family and friends. When we gave them that first vaccine you could see the look of astonishment in their faces and the joy in the family’s faces bringing them in,” recalled Dr Mee.

“It was very emotional, helping save lives and giving them their freedom back.”

Although he has been working in medicine for over thirty years Dr Mee said the pandemic forced them to relearn everything from scratch.

“The community pulled together and made enormous sacrifices. It was a very frightening time but if you were working in healthcare it was very inspirational,” he said.

“The pandemic was a difficult time and although it is not over the crisis part is over. I am glad I worked through the crisis and I think now is a suitable time to retire.”

Growing up in a city, Dr Mee always longed for the beach and it is one of the things that drew him to the county.

He said Donegal is a perfect place to rear a family and is somewhere that people look out for one another. He has three grown up children now in their twenties – two daughters, Eleanor and Lucy who are both living in Belgium and a son, Alan who is working in the hotel industry.

With more time on his hands Dr Mee, who turns 66 in June, hopes to spend more time on the beach and will focus on tending to his garden with his wife. He will be remaining part of the community and will continue his work in the day centre.

“The day centre and doing things for older people has been central to my time here and that will continue,” he said.

Dr Mee retires on June 30, 2022. Medical care for patients of Dr Mee will continue to be provided at the Health Centre by Dr Lannon.