By Paddy Walsh
A HSE worker who recently retired after 45 years with the health service has spoken of how an epileptic seizure reminds him of a career served for the benefit of others.
Brendan Hone, who introduced disability services to Donegal, recalled at his retirement function how his own mother, a nurse, developed epilepsy in 1958, the year that he was born.
Brendan, from Letterkenny but a long-time resident of Falcarragh, told his audience about a woman who suffers an epileptic seizure in the unmerciful glare of a public that doesn’t want to know.
He spoke of how such incidents can leave a person and her family traumatised and ultimately steer them to certain career choices in the health field.
Brendan and Joy Hone.
The recently retired service manager for Donegal Community Inclusion Training Service (DCITS) related the scenario and said: “Epilepsy used to carry an enormous stigma – people didn’t understand it.
“If my mum had a seizure in any public setting, some people simply sidestepped her or ran a mile. It caused great trauma in our family.
“My sister, Ann, became a doctor, my brother, John, trained as a social worker, my other brother, Kieran, trained as a teacher, and I became involved in disability services – all trying in our own way to make life better for people who are excluded.”
For Brendan it has been a richly rewarding career but even more so for those whose lives he helped improve.
He details the development of the disability services over the years and said: “The service users are at the centre of it.
“They want to belong in a community, to have a job, to be accepted, to have friendships, to be loved.”
Brendan also praised those colleagues who had, over close to half a century, helped and are helping to make it happen.
“Systems don’t make services work – people do,” he said.
He listed many names of people he had worked with over the years after starting in the HSE in 1981 – names too many to mention here but which he still holds dear for all their help and support.