TV show contestant tells of her COVID-19 nursing experience

An Athlone IT nursing student, who has been swopping scrubs for a microphone on TG4's hit Glór Tíre country music talent show in recent weeks, has spoken movingly this week of holding the hands of people before the pass away from Covid-19.

Emma Donohue, who is currently on placement in Tullamore hospital, issued an impassioned plea to the public to continue to abide by the Covid-19 guidelines, saying she has seen its effects on patients, and it "not a nice sight.”

“It’s all well and good to think you are invincible, but you’re not. This virus knows no boundaries. It is lethal. I know for some it may be hard to believe that something could be so vicious when we can’t physically see it, but believe me, it is,” Emma told the Westmeath Independent as part of an interview on her Glór Tíre TV experience.

In the third year of her general nursing degree course in Athlone IT, the up and coming singer, admitted placement in Tullamore has been “tough and that is putting it mildly” working 13-hour shifts without pay in full PPE, but she has learnt a lot. “I have seen first-hand patients with Covid and the effects it has on them, be it young or old. It’s not a nice sight. I have been the hand that some peoples’ relatives held, or who they’ve spoken to before they passed away from Covid and the side-effects from it.

“Please, one thing I will say, is to stay at home and help protect others and your own family," she advised."People don't realise it until it comes to their own door-step, the repercussions. I know one thing for certain; I don’t want to be holding the hand of someone I know due to the negligence of others. Be safe and careful,” Emma, who hails from Killoran, near Ballinasloe, concluded.