A fashion show held in the Ashbourne House Hotel during the summer raised €2,599.27 for the Neonatal Unit in the Rotunda Hospital. Eleven fashion retailers from the Ashbourne Town Centre showed their collections and exhibited accessories and beauty products. Staff, friends and customers of the retailers modelled the outfits. Retailers from the Town Centre also donated prizes and Jive Talking – a Bee Gees tribute band provided entertainment on the night

The money was spent on new murals for the Neonatal Unit. Peter Flood from ‘Fabulous Murals', Pauline Madden, Ashbourne Town Centre Manager and Kathrina Fitzsimons visited the Rotunda today to present the cheque to the Neonatal Unit. Kathrina, who previously had a baby in the Neonatal Unit thought that the murals were beautiful and brightened up the area. She hoped that they would bring comfort and brightness to parents during a stressful time in their lives. 

A Ceremony of Recognition and Healing was held in the Pillar Room, Rotunda Hospital on Saturday September 26th to acknowledge all the families that have been affected by the recent reports into organ retention. Members of the Board of Governors, the Lord Mayor of Dublin, hospital management and staff, bereaved families and support group representatives attended the ceremony. 

Opening the Ceremony, Dr Sam Coulter-Smith, Master of the Rotunda said, “We sincerely hope that acknowledging people’s pain in a prayerful and respectful way may contribute to their healing and restore peace and hope in their hearts. The Ceremony of Recognition and Healing is a unique gathering to recognise that people have been hurt, and to pray for God’s healing and compassion to embrace all those concerned”. 

A special candle of recognition and healing was lit and Rev Victor Fitzpatrick led the prayers. Members of Executive Management Team and the Board of Governors presented orange blossoms to the families present to symbolise healing, hope, new life and peace.

Mr Alan Ashe, Chairman of the Board of Governors unveiled a plaque to commemorate all that have been bereaved. The plaque will be permanently located beside a Gleditsia tree, which will be planted over the next couple of weeks in the grounds of the hospital.

Our Annual Service of Remembrance for people who have lost babies through miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth or neonatal death during the past year will be held in the Pro-Cathedral on the Sunday 22nd November at 3.00pm.

Mary Flynn and Denise Kelly provided the singing and musical accompaniment throughout the Ceremony, which concluded with the song “The Prayer” by David Foster and Carole Bayer Sager.

On Monday May 25^th 2009, the Taoiseach Mr Brian Cowen T.D. visited the Rotunda and officially opened the new Reception Area and the Assessment and Emergency Unit. The development project cost €4.2 million and was funded by the Health Service Executive.

The Assessment and Emergency Unit provides a 24-hour facility for the examination and assessment of women presenting with signs of labour, complications of pregnancy, postnatal period or acute gynaecological emergencies. Over 23,500 women were assessed and treated in the Unit in 2008. The new Unit consists of five fully equipped individual rooms, which affords women much greater dignity and privacy than was previously attainable. The two admission rooms facilitate confidential history taking and discussion. 

Café Rotunda is a great addition and already it is proving to be very popular with visitors and staff. Dr Coulter-Smith said “we have been very conscious of the lack of appropriate facilities for women attending appointments and for visitors. This has been identified as an area for improvement in our patient satisfaction surveys. I am delighted that we have the facilities to address this issue”.

Dr Coulter-Smith said, “The new Front Reception facilities are a great addition to the Rotunda and greatly enhance the initial impression of our facilities on arrival. We will continue to work with the HSE to enhance other patient facilities over the coming years”. He acknowledged the contribution and hard work of the Rotunda staff during the construction and congratulated the design team and the contractors involved.

The honour of being the Rotunda’s first baby born in 2009 goes to Scott Robert Morrissey. Baby Scott arrived at 00.17hr, weighing 2.85kg. Proud parents Teresa Morrissey and Jonathan Byrne were surprised and delighted with Scott’s early arrival. Teresa said, “I’m very excited as I wasn’t due for another nine days”.

Teresa availed of the early transfer home programme and was discharged from the Rotunda on January 2nd. She will receive visits from the community midwifery team over the next few days. Teresa said, “ I was delighted to get home so quickly as Scott’s brother Dylan was missing me. He will be one year old on January 12th”.