DUP councillor Kathyrn Owen swaps chamber for fight against Covid-19

Kathryn Owen, who was co-opted onto the Newry, Mourne and Down District Council in October 2019, will start her first shift next week at one of the Covid centre hospitals.

Ms Owen, 42, was a dental nurse and medic in the RAF from 1997 to 2005 before going back to full-time study in 2013 and becoming a nursing auxiliary for five years to fund her education.

Having stopped nursing to focus on completing a PhD and then politics, Ms Owen said she has gone back into it during this crisis as she has “felt a sense of duty”.

“I know it seems cheesy but you’re a public servant and the nation and your colleagues in health need you,” she added.

“If they’re putting their shoulder to the wheel then we have to as well. I have a unique set of skills that maybe not everybody could offer so that’s why I decided to go back. It doesn’t mean that I am any more important than anyone else.

“I need to be clear I am not a registered nurse, but I am a nursing auxiliary which still falls under the nursing directorate.

“The good thing is because I was a medic and in the military I am mentally prepared. I think what has been hard is waiting as I don’t know what I’m walking into.”

Ms Owen admitted that her decision has not been popular with her family who are concerned about her working on the front line.

“I am scared, I’m not going to try and pretend I’m not,” she said.

“I’m scared for my family, that my colleagues might get sick, that I might get sick or that I might bring it home to my family, which is a greater worry.

“My husband has a weakness in his breathing and my father-in-law has just recovered from throat cancer as well.”

The councillor for Rowallane will be moving out of the family home so she doesn’t put husband Steven or children Thomas, 16 and Grace, 12, at risk.

“My auntie has lent me her caravan which I’m putting in the drive,” she said.

“I can still stand in the garden and talk to the kids that way. I am going to be moving out of the house. I just can’t risk it.”

Ms Owen is taking a pause from her PhD work as well her political career but says she will be kept in the loop and her colleagues will be helping constituents out in her absence.

“People who come to me will always be looked after because I’m forwarding all inquires onto Cllr William Walker and Jim Shannon’s office,” she said.

“This goes for all politicians, not just my own party, but I hope it shows that some of us do actually care.”