It's a family affair on vaccination day for Kiltoom resident (98)
“It's something I will always treasure being able to look after her,” Dr David Harrison said just days after he had the honour of giving his grandmother Christine Harrison, now living in Kiltoom, her first dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine.
All of 98 years young, 99 in October, Christine, who is a great-grandmother, got her jab on Thursday, February 25 in Roscommon Primary Care Centre where her grandson has been working for several years.
“She's a mighty bit of stuff. It was a great honour to give her the vaccine. Granny, like everyone else, has been stuck at home,” Dr David Harrison told the Westmeath Independent on Monday. Christine, who has been living in Kiltoom with her daughter Helen Finneran for the last year and a half since moving from Kilteevan where she had lived independently until then, has been keeping busy knitting for all the family, and writing and reciting her own poetry.
She has also produced plays in her time and has been involved in Roscommon Drama Group and the ICA.
Asked his grandmother's reaction to the jab, he joked: “There were no complaints. She was delighted to get it finally done like everyone else. She was actually talking to a reporter as it was happening. He asked her what was her secret for a long life, and she said plenty of hard work. It (the vaccine) didn't phase her one bit”.
Just prior to Covid, her grandson said Christine visited the Sacred Heart Hospital twice a week visiting others and providing a bit of entertainment to those who attend daycare, and she hopes to get back to that after Covid.
A mother-of-five, Christine's son Tom, unfortunately, passed away ten years ago, and this made the vaccination day all the more poignant given that it was his son giving her the jab. Accompanied on the big day by her daughters Mary and Helen, she also has another daughter Phil (Philomena), and a son Gerry back in Kilteevan.
Reflecting on a unique piece of family history, Dr Harrison said he feels very lucky to be able to look after his grandmother given how close his father was to her, and he is too. “I just feel I'm keeping granny healthy as best I can. I've looking after her for the last six years now. She is very close to me, and I suppose I have a vested interest in keeping her well,” he said, joking that she can have as many house calls as she wants.
A very active lady with a sharp mind and memory, Christine, who grew up on the Racecourse Road in Roscommon town, is also a grandmother of twelve children and 20 great-grandchildren.
Dr Harrison, who is in practice with another GP Dr Valerie Morris, said the “buzz about the place” last week as the vaccinations for the over 85s got underway, and the excitement was amazing among patients who were “walking in ten feet tall”, something that's missing this week as the practice has reverted back to phone consultations.