Mayor to lead protest march against Drogheda hospital name change

The Mayor of Drogheda, Councillor Frank Godfrey will lead a walk on Sunday to protest against the proposal to change the name of Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, which, he says, would see the HSE terminating all links to its history and founder. The mayor has invited families and community groups from across the North East to join local people in demonstrating their opposition to the HSE plans.

“Thanks to the vision and energy of Mother Mary Martin who founded the Medical Missionaries of Mary back in 1937, the people of Drogheda and the North East built this hospital with the support of donors from across the globe – an initiative that attracted the interest of many famous people, including Princess Grace of Monaco,” said Mayor Godfrey, adding “the people of the region are not going to stand idly by and allow a bunch of faceless HSE managers take away our heritage and deny the wonderful work of Mother Mary Martin and the Medical Missionaries for generations.”

For her humanitarian work, Mother Mary Martin was the first woman to be conferred the Freedom of the Borough of Drogheda in 1966, and years later, was chosen as the Local Person of the Millennium in an extensive poll. Her life long vocation of caring for the sick – and especially pregnant women, mothers and children – began during World War I where she tended the wounded and dying including those at the infamous Battle of the Somme. Later, from small beginnings, she established the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMMs) and took over running of the Beechgrove maternity hospital in 1939. The MMMs also went on to have a distinguished record providing healthcare in countries with little or no proper healthcare infrastructure, such as Malawi.

Following the construction of their flagship healthcare centre - Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in the mid 1950’s - until 1997 when the HSE acquired the hospital, the MMMs and their staff provided healthcare for generations of people in Louth, Meath, Cavan and Monaghan as the leading hospital in the region. It also developed an expertise in tropical medicine.

“We can never forget the vision and hard work of Mother Mary Martin and the MMMs and it is outrageous for the HSE to even contemplate dabbling with the name and our proud heritage. No other town in Ireland has such a fine hospital and staff. It was Mother Mary Martin and the people who built this hospital, not the State. So no Government, Minister or State body has any right to try to erase such a significant part of our heritage which is known and cherished throughout the world,” concluded Mayor Godfrey, who urged all those families who have had generations treated there to join the walk on Sunday, January 6th next, commencing at 3pm from St.Peter’s Church, West Street to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.