Oonagh Grogan
“My entire focus was, I’m going to college. I want to learn. I'm going to be a nurse.”
Oonagh Grogan had dreamed of being a nurse since she was a child. Now aged 50, nothing was going to stop her from finishing her course. And so, when she was told just before starting the BSc in Intellectual Disability Nursing that she needed to have a major operation, she wasn’t exactly pleased with her consultant.
“I was like, ‘I haven't got time for that, I'm starting college next week,” says Oonagh, “My entire focus was, I’m going to college. I want to learn. I'm going to be a nurse.”
A series of operations didn’t dim her enthusiasm for study. Oonagh laughs when she remembers one occasion, when she was admitted for a procedure to treat a heart condition. “I went to the hospital that evening with my schoolbag, with my laptop, my assignments. I didn't bring a nightdress, I didn't bring a toothbrush, and my husband had to go home and get all that stuff.”
Born in Cork, Oonagh grew up in a medically inclined household – her mother was a nurse, and her father was a pharmacist. Growing up, she wanted to follow in her mother’s footsteps. However, Oonagh had chronic asthma and, knowing the physical demands of the job, her mother steered her towards a secretarial course.
Her work brought her to Dublin and, eventually, to Navan, Co Meath, where she settled with her husband and two children. Many years on, she still had a strong desire to work in the caring professions, and she began working as a healthcare assistant in a local Nursing home.
Studying for a qualification with the Louth Meath Education and Training Board (LMETB) HSEA course, she realised that she “enjoyed studying when I enjoyed what I was studying.”
It was a realisation that led her to apply for the BSc in Intellectual Disability Nursing. Her family were fully supportive, but the decision raised a few eyebrows, with some acquaintances asking her, “Why would you do that at this stage of your life?”
Oonagh describes herself as “very, very serious about my studies” from the start and found that the lecturers inspired further self-directed learning. “I loved it. I mean, I was the most enthusiastic first year walking in.”
Her favourite aspects of the course were the research assignments. So much so that she signed up for a summer research internship with Dr Liz Hartnett from DCU School of Nursing, Psychotherapy and Community Health. The project, commissioned by the National Screening Service, examined the rates at which people in the intellectual disability community were taking up the screenings, and Oonagh was listed as a contributor to the report.
As with all DCU Nursing programmes, placements are a key part of the learning process. Oonagh did several internships with the Avista Group, which runs various services for people with intellectual disabilities.
“They are some of the most beautiful people in the world. They have beautiful souls,” says Oonagh about the service users she worked with.
Her internships led to a job offer with Avista, and she now works in a residential house in Clonsilla, as part of a team caring for six elderly women with intellectual disabilities.
Oonagh says the work is demanding and sometimes stressful, but always rewarding. “I might be tired going in in the morning, but I'm buzzing coming home.”
Building strong bonds with the residents is a key part of the job and ensures that they always feel safe and cared for. “They may not remember me by name, may not remember where they've seen me before, but they will remember the feeling that my presence brings for them. And I always want them to feel safe and loved when they see me walking into the room.”
As she graduates from DCU, Oonagh has realised a lifelong ambition to become a qualified nurse. She reflects that one of the motivators that kept her going was the memory of her late mother.
One of Oonagh’s treasured mementoes is her mother’s nursing certificate, awarded by the former nursing authority, An Bord Altranais. She now plans to frame it, alongside her own nursing degree from DCU.