A Laois midwife has been given a prestigious award and €2,500 for Portlaoise Hospital for her ‘beyond incredible’ patient care.
Claire Fitzpatrick, Clinical Midwife Specialist in Lactation in Portlaoise Hospital, has been awarded the WaterWipes Pure Foundation Fund Trophy.
While the €2,500 prize towards her healthcare workplace the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise.
Claire was nominated for going above and beyond her call of duty and enhancing the experience for women and their babies supporting with breastfeeding mothers during the various lockdowns.
She maintained her support of expectant mothers with online classes and even went above and beyond the call of duty by using her spare time to help with Ireland’s vaccination programme against Covid-19.
The Pure Foundation Fund will go towards improving the facilities at the Midland Regional Hospital Lactation Room in order to make it more comfortable as well as aiding with the education of staff at the hospital.
Speaking about her win, Claire said: “I feel very proud to have been nominated.
“I love my job and feel so privileged to be in a position where I can be of support to women and babies when they start out on their breast-feeding journey.
“It’s been a stressful year and challenging in many ways, but this has been an amazing boost.”
WaterWipes encouraged both neonatal nurses and midwives, and expectant and new parents to nominate individuals, specifically involved in neonatal, maternity and community care, who had gone above and beyond to make a difference to the lives of parents and babies.
With a significant number of entries, showing the breadth of fantastic healthcare workers in Ireland and the three winners were chosen by a panel including Ailbhe O’Briain, WaterWipes® HCP Marketing Manager UK & Ireland, INMO, and Mandy Daly, Irish Neonatal Health Alliance (INHA).
Ailbhe O’Briain, WaterWipes HCP Marketing Manager UK & Ireland said: “We were delighted to launch the second Pure Foundation Fund in 2021, to celebrate the dedication of our healthcare heroes who have provided beyond incredible care for expectant or new parents and their babies – and we were thrilled to see such fantastic and remarkable entries.
“Stories of those nominated included devoted nurses, midwives and public health nurses, who supported parents throughout the pandemic including Claire Fitzpatrick, helping with difficult births, homebirths, and upping the ante to take care of unwell babies and struggling parents during a particularly difficult year for the world.”
The other two Pure Foundation Fund winners in the UK were Anne Buckley from Cork University Hospital and Pauline O’Connor from Claremorris Primary Care Centre.
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