Anthony Staines- St. Michael's House Chairperson

These are unique times and uniquely challenging times. The last occasion when Ireland had a similar major pandemic was in 1957, well before the memory of most of us. These times have called for extraordinary actions, and I appreciate very well, the burden this places on all of you, on our service users, and on their families.

The Board members fully support the Management team on their continual work on business continuity plans, reconfiguration plans, and remodelling service plans, in this time of crisis.

Our aim is to preserve our vision, our mission, and our values in these hard times. We are all working, as are you, to ensure that our service users and their families are valued and protected at this unprecedented time in Ireland. Service to these vulnerable groups is our priority and strategic plans are being developed to protect these services. Later this year, when the initial crisis has died down, we will look, with all of you, at some longer-term responses to what has happened. We believe we can learn a lot from our current experiences to improve the lives of service users, and their families.

I’d like to send a very sincere thank you from the St. Michael's House Board members to each and every staff member. Thank you to all the service users, staff and family members for their cooperation and understanding at this uncertain time . There is a huge sense of gratitude from our team and we wish you all safe.

Anthony Staines,
Professor of Health Systems, School of Nursing, Psychotherapy, and Community Health,
Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland.