Campaign reaches Slieve Donard

Campaign reaches Slieve Donard

7 January 2015

HOSPITAL staff took the Love the Downe campaign to new heights last weekend.

Nurses and X-ray department staff decided to climb Slieve Donard as part of a team building event, braving cold conditions all the way up to the top where they were greeted by snow.

The hospital staff said that with talk about the recent reductions in a number of key services at the Downe on their minds over Christmas, they decided to help kick-start the Love the Downe campaign which includes a major protest rally in Downpatrick next month.

Emergency nurse practitioner Rosaleen Williamson described the six-hour climb up Slieve Donard as “one of the hardest things ever.”

At the summit, staff members who were joined by some of their relatives, unveiled a Love the Downe banner which they had specially made for the occasion.

Rosaleen added: “We love our hospital and want the local community to support it as well.”

The Love the Downe rally is being organised by the Down Community Health Committee and takes place on St. Valentine’s Day.

The rally is the first major public protest to be held in recent years and is scheduled to include a number of guest speakers. Hospital campaigners say they are “deeply concerned” at the latest cuts imposed at the Downe Hospital which administrators insist are temporary.