A message to show hard-working SWAH staff that they have someone in their corner will be displayed in Enniskillen on Thursday, November 13 by way of a candlelit vigil.
Save Our Acute Service (SOAS) will be staging the event – called Shine A Light – at the Diamond in the town centre at 7pm to mark the second anniversary of the removal of the life-saving emergency surgery service from the SWAH.
Following the withdrawal of that service, patients needing acute surgery have been forced to undertake a journey to Altnagelvin Hospital and back – a return trip of more than 100 miles – to receive treatment.
Aside from the vigil, Fermanagh and Omagh District Council will have both Enniskillen Castle and the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh floodlit by a yellow light.
Helen Hamill, secretary of SOAS, said: “Thursday’s event is to mark the two-year anniversary. Last year, we managed to have a short meeting on the Diamond in Enniskillen.
“This year is to give the staff of our hospital an acknowledgement that there is hope and that there is a team fighting for them and that we will be continuing to do the same.
“It’s a very strong message and that’s why the slogan became, ‘Shine A Light For SWAH’.
“There will be candles given out to children and people on the evening. There will also be people who use their phone.
“The feedback we’ve got and the interest in the event is very humbling. We’ve had people sharing the (social media) thread – we’ve never had so much traction and the videos on our page have collected more than 40,000 views.
“There is a sense of volume in the responses and I think it’s what the frontline staff at the hospital need.
“This is to recognise what they’ve done under intense pressure while we’ve been working parallel to keep the one focus which will be the restoration of a surgical rota which will be stable and long-term.
“Slogans are going up such as ‘Fermanagh Has Been Forgotten’ and ‘Fermanagh Deserves Better’. We’ve changed the messaging but we’re staying with the same ideals and the same determination as we had two years ago.”
Fr. Brian D’Arcy, who is a priest at the Graan and will be officiating at the vigil along with Reverend Stephen McWhirter, states that the removal of the acute services is part of a wider picture of Fermanagh as a whole being forgotten about.
He added: “We in Fermanagh have basically been forgotten about on many levels – including health. You only have to look at GP systems throughout the county.
“You can’t even get an appendix removed at, what is, South West Acute Hospital – and it’s still called that.
“So we’re working away trying to speak with, and on behalf of, the people of Fermanagh and South Tyrone. We deserve a much better medical service than the one we’re getting – especially in regard to acute services.
“The bottom line is that geographically, Fermanagh is so far away from any of the other acute hospitals. It is impossible for anybody in an acute situation to get to an acute hospital in a time that is beneficial for treatment.
“It has been proven that the longer you delay treatment in an acute situation, the increase the probability of permanent damage being done and, in fact in many cases, perhaps death.
“The bottom line is that Fermanagh is slowly sidelined in everything. It’s the only county in Britain that doesn’t have a railway running through it.
“To add insult to injury, they came to Fermanagh to make that announcement (the All Island Strategic Rail Review for Ireland). That’s not much respect for the people of Fermanagh and this area.
“Another example are the good roads stopping 50 miles from Fermanagh. We also need a bypass which has been promised for as long as I’ve been alive. It may come but there’s no great signs of it coming.
“There’s BT as well. We were told that it would be fought for yet BT (in Enniskillen) has gone without a whimper.
“So we’re not content to let that happen to the hospital. Thursday’s event is not a rebel-rousing rally. It will be a prayer rally that will hopefully shine a light for half an hour.
“It will be quiet with a visual appeal to it with lights. Myself and the Rev. Steven McWhirter from Rossorry will hold a very short service of light. This is the time of year when we do that anyway because in the darkest months, we need to look at the brighter light and that’s the main purpose of the meeting on Thursday night.”
“There are a lot of staff there and in some of the wards, they’re run off their feet – for example, A&E and the Cardiac ward.
“But all of those eventually depend on the availability of emergency surgery. All of them are limping along because there’s no emergency surgery and because it is not available within two and a half hours and that really is putting staff under undue pressure.
“I think it’s certainly immoral and possibly even worse than that to leave so many people in that situation.
“It’s got to the stage where many of the old people I meet would rather let life take its course than have to make the journey to Derry so often. That’s not fair either.”
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