{"id":5120,"date":"2024-02-20T09:43:18","date_gmt":"2024-02-20T09:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medicsvoices.com\/?p=5120"},"modified":"2024-02-27T14:22:56","modified_gmt":"2024-02-27T14:22:56","slug":"austin-o-carroll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medicsvoices.com\/austin-o-carroll\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin O’Carroll | Medicine on the Margins"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
Family doctor, social entrepreneur, international sailor, teacher, cyclist, radical activist.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t Dr Austin O Carroll is an inner-city GP in Dublin since 1997. The focus of his career has been improving access for communities affected by marginalization or deprivation to quality primary healthcare.<\/p> \u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t He completed a Doctorate in ethnographic research into the health service usage behaviours of homeless people. He was a co-founding member of Northdoc. He received the Fiona Bradley Award; the Time & Tide Award for his work with migrants; the Healthcare professional of the Year Award 2015 and was awarded an Honorary membership of the RCPI the Doolin Award 2019; and Gertrude Ronan Award 2019. He was awarded the 5 Star Doctor Award from Wonca Europe in 2020. He participated in the 2016 Paralympics in sailing.<\/p> Among his many achievements, Austin has founded several initiatives:\u00a0<\/p> Safetynet (2007) which provides GP services to over 6000 marginalized patients annually throughout Ireland. He initiated specialised services in several food halls\/drop-ins\/hostels;\u00a0\u00a0GP services for Roma community in two medical centres; a Mobile Health Unit for rough sleepers; a Mobile Health Screening Unit; He was Medical Director from 2007-2017.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p> GMQ, a primary care programme for homeless people which also specialises in addiction services (including methadone treatment and alcohol and benzodiazepine detoxes. \u00a0<\/p> Partnership for Health Equity, a research, education, policy and service delivery collaboration. \u00a0<\/p> GPCareforAll, a new social enterprise that creates new GP practices in areas of deprivation. \u00a0<\/p> North Dublin City GP Training programme, the first programme internationally that trains GP\u2019s to work in communities affected by deprivation or marginalization. \u00a0<\/p> He set up the GP service for the McVerry Stabilization Centre in Barrymore House. \u00a0<\/p> He was Dublin HSE Covid Lead for the Homeless Population between 2020 and 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t “\u2026we have developed a health service that’s been designed for middle class people, who have routines in their lives, who are able to keep appointments, who are able to assert themselves in middle class ways that won’t get them kicked out, who value their health and who have hope of a future that they are looking forward. Therefore, that service we designed is for them because we know they will use our service. But that service isn’t designed for homeless people.”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t Watch the video, listen to the podcast, read the transcript below<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t Discussing PhD at HRB Research meetin<\/a>g in Galway<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t How do you describe Austin? He’s a Family Doctor, a social entrepreneur, international sailor, teacher, cyclist, radical activist. But, actually, Austin you very nearly didn’t become a doctor. Tell us about that.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t Austin O\u2019Carroll<\/strong>. My background is that I was born with a disability. I have Thalidomide. My mother, interestingly, only took one tablet but one tablet was enough to cause a significant amount of destruction. So, I have a disability and I spent a lot of my time in hospital as a child. My disability affects my legs for walking and also my thumb. I’ve only a very rudimentary thumb so that affects my ability to use my hands. I decided I wanted to do medicine early on and, in fact, what I did was that I went to my own surgeon, and got advice from several doctors, and they all advised me that I wouldn’t be able to do medicine. First of all they said there’s a lot of walking involved in terms of going around hospitals but then, more importantly, they said they felt that because of my hands I wouldn’t be able to take bloods or to do put in IVs. So, I took it on the chin at the time and I decided to do law instead.<\/p> I went to Trinity College and in my first year in college I had the privilege of having Mary Robinson as my tutor and, in the second year she left and I was transferred to Mary McAleese. Both of them subsequently became Presidents of Ireland. Mary Robinson became President of Ireland and then she became the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and she’s the lead for the Council of the Elderly, the International Council of the Elderly. She’s a well recognized International player. And Mary McAleese is this wonderful woman who also went on to become President of Ireland.<\/p> What actually happened is that I was doing law and I fancied this girl who was doing medicine in a different college. We went traveling on our summer holidays and, as you do, you often end up together as a group and I happened to end up in the same group as this girl I fancied. I was in southern Italy, down below Sorrento, on the coast. I remember one very romantic evening, sitting outside on the edge of a cliff with her, overlooking the Mediterranean as the sun set. \u00a0Unfortunately, nothing romantic happened, except that she said she thought it was ridiculous that I didn’t do medicine. So, I got on the train the next day went straight back to Dublin, went to Mary McAleese, and a week later I was standing in front of a group of men in a room showing them my hands and legs, and two days later I was in medicine.<\/p> Outside Trinity is one of the poorest areas in Dublin and I got very involved with youth work. In summers I ended working in playgrounds in the inner city and during the year we would bring kids out, got involved in also visiting old folk in their homes. \u2026 in a way, that set the template for where I was going to go for the rest of my career.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t “she said she thought it was ridiculous that I didn’t do medicine. So, I got on the train the next day went straight back to Dublin, went to Mary McAleese, and a week later I was standing in front of a group of men in a room showing them my hands and legs, and two days later I was in medicine.”<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t From Tommy Tiernan Show<\/a> on RTE<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t From Mental Health in Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t DMacA:<\/strong> During your medical school time you became very socially active. You were involved in a lot of organizations…<\/p> \u00a0<\/p> AOC:<\/strong> In the two years I did law actually, that’s where I got involved. I always say I had two educations in college, one inside the walls of Trinity. Trinity is built with walls around it and it’s based on the concept of an island of learning, a haven of learning, within the toil and muck of the city. Outside Trinity is one of the poorest areas in Dublin and I got very involved with youth work. In summers I ended working in playgrounds in the inner city and during the year we would bring kids out, got involved in also visiting old folk in their homes. We used to do tutorials with people, local kids, visited work with people with disabilities and organizations. So, I got very involved in that type of work and I suppose that education was as important as my medical education because, in a way, that set the template for where I was going to go for the rest of my career.<\/p> \u00a0<\/p> DMacA:<\/strong> Lets fast- track on a little bit… the rest of your career is spent in inner city Dublin?<\/p> \u00a0<\/p> AOC:<\/strong> Yes, well, there’s a little interim which is interesting. \u00a0When I was in Trinity and working with the Vincent de Paul, a fantastic organization, a charity, I learned the charitable approach. It was an interesting group because we did do things, for example, we brought people with disability in to show how inaccessible Trinity College was. We also ran an open day for the local community because, really interesting, while the local community walk all around Trinity, they never go inside the walls, even though it’s free access for everyone.<\/p> \u00a0<\/p> And then in the ’90s I got involved with disability activism. I went in with a slightly pompous attitude thinking that \u2013 \u2018oh listen I’m a successful person with disability I’ve got plenty to teach\u2019. In fact, I did more learning, much more learning, than teaching. Because I learned about the reality of what it was to be a person with a disability. But I also learned about a totally different approach which was the rights based approach and the complexity of a rights based approach. While I have great respect for people in charities, I founded two charities, still work in them, and I have great respect for people who come from that perspective. Ultimately, a charitable approach is about keeping people in the same position, it’s not about liberation or getting people out of that position. So, you go and you help them survive but, in a way, you’re not changing the system, you’re just helping people survive within the present system. A rights based approach is about change in the system and that probably defined my approach to health care from then on.<\/p> \u00a0<\/p> Then in 1997 I managed to get a GP practice in the inner city. Just to give you a flavour of what it was like – when I first started in the inner city, it was like shock therapy. I never realized how the drugs plague from the 80s had affected inner city Dublin. I ended up meeting families who had lost three or four kids to drugs. In my first four years I was attending a funeral at least once a month of a young person. I faced aggression on a daily basis from people looking for drugs. In fact, it was ironic that the aggression was so intense that I found myself, after six months, I’d have to take Valium at the weekend to relax down again because I’d be so stressed out by it.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t “Outside Trinity is one of the poorest areas in Dublin and I got very involved with youth work. In summers I ended working in playgrounds in the inner city and during the year we would bring kids out, got involved in also visiting old folk in their homes. \u2026 in a way, that set the template for where I was going to go for the rest of my career”<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t From Tommy Tiernan Show<\/a> on RTE<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t