Eimear Quinn is currently working towards her Gaisce Gold Award and is a third year nursing student studying at DCU. “I wouldn’t be in nursing without having got involved with the Gaisce programme. The community involvement activities have stayed with me from my Bronze Award in school right up until now and have helped me to find the career I wanted.”
Eimear recalls how before getting involved with the Gaisce programme she was a quiet, timid person who stayed amongst her own friends. “I’ve definitely changed, before Gaisce I couldn’t imagine doing some of the things I have got involved in.”
As part of her skill for her Gold Award Eimear learned sign language and found it has already been of huge benefit within her nursing placement. “I have come across five patients so far who used sign language to communicate. It is great to have that skill as no other staff in the hospital had it. It made the patients stay a lot more comfortable and I was able to communicate with them more effectively.”
Eimear has been volunteering in the Capuchin Day Centre, a centre for homeless persons and families, since her Silver Award. “I’m thinking of going in to the homeless services as a nurse. There is new a post-graduate degree course coming on stream and it will allow me to become a homeless liaison nurse within a hospital. It is definitely something I am interested in because of my time spent volunteering through Gaisce.”
In terms of developing new skills Eimear credits the Gaisce programme with helping her manage her time more effectively and communicating better with people. She also believes the Gaisce programme has allowed her to focus on herself, “I saw Gaisce as a way to do what I want to do, outside of nursing and outside of college. It’s my time to focus on me.”
In August Eimear will head off to walk the Camino as part of her residential project. The final chapter in her Gold Award journey will see Eimear run the Dublin City Marathon, “The running helps me reflect on how far I’ve come from being a quiet enough 16 year old, to being involved with nursing and getting to meet new people all the time.”