The Homes of Tipperary: where many medics learned skills such as smoking
Dr Garrett Fitzgerald reflects on nursing homes of the past – and the prevalence of smoking among nurses. Thankfully, since the time of FitzGerald, most healthcare staff don’t take up bad habits, and those that do, have managed to Kickham
At the head of our street stood the green statue of Charles J Kickham, 1879 author of the novel,
Knocknagow or
The Homes of Tipperary. In my childhood ignorance, I thought the (unread) novel was about nursing homes.
Our shop was a wonderful vantage point for my early interest in the world of healthcare. Opposite was Saint Anne’s Home or Nurse Hogan’s. One of four – along with Nurse O’Connor’s, Nurse O’Dwyer’s and Nurse Ryan’s. From the surnames alone you could easily identify the geographic location.