'Exceptional' Laois hospital midwife wins award for going 'beyond the call of duty'

An 'exceptional' Laois midwife has been honoured with the Pure Foundation Fund trophy and a prize of €2,500 towards the Clinical Midwife & Specialist Lactation Maternity department at Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise.

The Pure Foundation Fund, which launched in 2020, celebrates the achievements of neonatal nurses and midwives working with parents and babies in maternity, neonatal and community care.

The organisers say that this year they recognised the efforts of three outstanding women in Britain and Ireland including local Claire Fitzpatrick.

Claire is Clinical Midwife & Specialist in Lactation at Portlaoise hospital. She won the award for the enhanced 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," say the organisers.

Claire was delighted with the award.

“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,” she said.

WaterWipes® supports the awards. It says they 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. MORE BELOW PICTURE.

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 is  WaterWipes® HCP Marketing Manager UK & Ireland.

“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,” she said.

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The other two Pure Foundation Fund winners in Ireland were Anne Buckley from Cork University Hospital and Pauline O’Connor from Claremorris Primary Care Centre.

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To find out more about the Pure Foundation Fund please visit www.waterwipes.com