The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation have elected a new Executive Council at its recent Annual Delegate Conference.
Ms Karen McGowan, an Advanced Nurse Practioner in Beaumont Hospital, has been re-elected as President of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation.
Ms McGowan will be supported in her work by Mary Tully (1st Vice President) and Caroline Gourley (2nd Vice President).
Ms McGowan, a native of West Donegal said:
I am delighted to have been re-elected as President of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation by my peers.
Nurses and midwives are working in unprecedented and challenging circumstances both in health care settings and in the community. I am delighted that Mary Tully and Caroline Gourley will join me as officers of the union as they both bring a unique perspective as a Public Health nurse and a Director of Nursing in a care of the older person service respectively.
Irish nurses and midwives are there for the Irish people working twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year. We need to continue to be supported by Government, the HSE and the wider public to face the many challenges that are ahead of us.
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Biographies
Karen McGowan is a registered ANP in the ED at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin. She trained as an RGN at Beaumont and completed her BSc in nursing at DCU. She later undertook a postgraduate diploma in emergency nursing and a master’s degree at the RCSI. She also holds certificates in drug prescribing and ionising radiation, as well as a certificate in advanced assessment from UCD.
Mary Tully is a Public Health Nurse working in primary care in Cavan. She is qualified as both a nurse and a midwife. She has been an active INMO member for many years, holding key positions in her branch and section. She previously served on the Executive Council for three consecutive terms some years ago and feels that this has given her an acute understanding of union structures and how to make them work to ensure maximum participation by all members.
Caroline Gourley is the director of nursing at Claremont Services. Since beginning her career in the 1980s, she has worked in Cherry Orchard Hospital and Bellvilla Community Unit. She holds a diploma in first-line supervisory management, a BSc in nursing management, an advanced diploma in Medical Law and an MSc in palliative care. She has been an INMO representative at hospital and branch level since 1990 and is chairperson of the Care of the Older Person Section.