Known primarily for her on-field success with Dublin's footballers, Noelle Healy spoke on Friday's OTB AM about her experience working as a doctor in Temple Street Hospital.
To whatever degree it feels like the widespread consequences of coronavirus have restricted us in ways previously thought unlikely, if not unimaginable, Noelle Healy is braced for tougher times to come.
"Thing are about to get busier," the Dublin star and Temple Street doctor explained on Friday's OTB AM. "In Ireland, we've had a bit of luck in so far as we've had a bit of time to prepare.
"There's been a lot of emphasis on making sure that we get our rest now because we don't really know what's coming down the line."
With potentially darker days ahead, Healy, the winner of numerous All-Ireland medals across over a decade of service with Dublin's footballers, hasn't been oblivious to the consequential fear that has gripped many across the country.
"When you're usually at work you can close the door at the end of the day and leave it behind," she explained. "But now, it is everything that everyone is talking about on the news.
"I've never heard so many people talk about ventilators. It's totally different to anything I've experienced."
Lets work together to protect eachother 💚 #FlattenTheCurve #itsinourhands #covid19
Ní neart go cur le chéile @WomensGPA @HSELive @dublinladiesg @LadiesFootball pic.twitter.com/mufWHD7FX5— Noëlle Healy (@NoelleHealy) March 16, 2020
After a night where people across Ireland and the UK took a moment to celebrate their healthcare workers with a moment's applause, Noelle Healy believes that while the intention was good, dealing with the spread of coronavirus will not be the responsibility of healthcare workers alone.
"Look, it was lovely, yes," she said. "You can see that in the 'Feed the Heroes' movement that's going as well and we are lucky in one way that we can feel like we're doing something when we go to work and feel like we're helping.
"[But] I think, as has been said before, that it isn't going to be the healthcare workers that are going to solve this or slow this process down. As cheesy as it sounds, this is in everybody's hands.
"We can help to treat people who get the disease, but as Catherine Motherway said on Prime Time, people just need not to get this virus.
"Be intelligent, be sensible, wash your hands and clean your surfaces. It's not going to be healthcare workers who solve this problem."
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