The life of Co Down’s ‘Grand Old Lady’
Left to right: Dr Sean Kelly, author; Winifred Gregg, former psychiatric social worker at the Downshire and Pat McGreevy, South Eastern HSC Trust
A book charting the history of the Downshire Hospital from its days as an asylum to the present time will be central to a week-long series of celebrations next month. LAURA MURPHY reports
THE red brick, almost regal looking building that is the Downshire Hospital has been a prominent feature of Downpatrick since it opened its doors more than a hundred years ago.
But later this year, the remaining of its 40-odd patients will be transferred to community-based care, and the site will take on a new, multi-functional role within the public sector, as home to Down District Council, the South Eastern Health Trust, the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service, the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and a new PSNI Command Centre.
And to mark the occasion, a week-long series of commemorative events are taking place at the Ardglass Road landmark next month.
“The site’s in transition from a traditional psychiatric hospital to a public sector campus,” says South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust service improvement manager and former Downshire nurse Pat McGreevy.
He worked at the hospital in the mid 1970s before becoming a community psychiatric nurse.
“It was a friendly very progressive place to work,” he recalls, “and if not at the leading edge then not very far away from it in terms of some of the innovations in mental health care.”
Pat says that the week of celebratory events will kick off on Sunday, March 11 at 3pm with an ecumenical service in the Great Hall, attended by local church leaders and school choirs.
“One of the points someone on the committee made, and which I thought was really good, was that ecumenical services were happening in the Downshire and hospitals like it long before they were commonplace in the wider community,” he adds.
“On the Monday (March 12) we have our photographic exhibition, and we believe we will have something like around 150 photographs. Some will show the site in transition, in both colour and black and white, and some will show what the inside of the hospital was like in the 60s - they really capture the atmosphere of it. The exhibition will run the whole week.”
On Tuesday, March 13, the tradition of afternoon dances which took place in the Downshire for many years will be recreated, and will bring together current and former residents of the hospital.
That night, there will be a special evening for people who have used the services of the Addictions Unit, Ward 15, marking the fact for many years users had traditionally got together on this night. Mark Gilman, of the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, will be guest speaker.
A major conference, chaired by Senator Maurice Hayes, and marking the transitions and progress in mental health care will be held on Wednesday, March 14, with speakers professor Peter Nolan, John Compton and professor Hugh McKenna.
And on the Thursday night, a Charity Traditional Folk Music Concert will take place in the Great Hall.
The week will close on Friday March 16 with a special reception for current and former staff, and Sean Kelly’s book on the history of the Downshire, A Grand Old Lady, will be formally launched.
Anyone who would like more information about the events should contact Pat on (028)44 613311 Ext 3482 or email pat.mcgreevy@setrust.hscni.net
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Friday 25 May 2012
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