Empowering communities and careers

PADRAIG

Not only do we care passionately about the work that we do on behalf of our members and our customers back in the US, but we also care deeply about the community that we sit in. The education system in Ireland is a great education system. If you come from a background where you can’t afford to go to college, these scholars program, we give to people, who may not normally be able to afford to go to the premiere course that they had success getting into.

FIONA

There’s the financial, but then there’s also the confidence piece. I have watched students who’ve come in here and have not been able to look you in the face, and leaving here as such strong, confident graduates.

JODIE

My name is Jodie Gallagher. 

I’m one of the inaugural scholars. So I was one of the very first people who was lucky enough to be awarded with the scholarship. I always had an inkling that I might have to leave Donegal. I said, look, I can use this to build my life and think of the future. I am studying to be a general nurse. 

And my thinking then is that I want to also become a geo qualified nurse midwife. 

-JODIE GRADUATED FROM ATU WITH A DEGREE IN NURSING AND IS WORKING ON THE MEDICAL WARD AT LETTERKENNY UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL-

I think there’s always been a certain part of me that’s loved children and loved the fact that someone can be there to help give back to women as they help bring new life into the world.

And it’s only because of this course that I’m going to be able to do that. 

PADRAIG

The vast majority of clinicians live for 20 or 25 years within the region that they study.

And that’s mind blowing, that that is going to, that’s going to change the face of healthcare within Donegal and within this region, over the next 10 to 15 years.

CONAL

I grew up the youngest of six children. 

Mum is the most caring person I’ve ever met. She became ill, she got cancer when I was a teenager. As I watched her kind of go through that process and become ill and get better, thankfully and that, do you know what, that would be a lovely area to work in.

-CONAL ORIGINALLY TRAINED AND WORKED AS A PHYSIOTHERAPIST-

I’ve always felt the Northwest lacked the services and then the volume of trained professionals that we deserve. Coming back to Ireland and working here and studying here, it’s kind of come full circle for me.

One of the biggest obstacles I had was financially, how I was going to afford this. When I received a scholarship, it was a huge sense of relief. 

I’m hugely grateful for, for all the support that I’ve got. I studied graduate medicine. Currently in my second year, and I’m loving it.