John Dowling: head porter and senior plaster technician, Tralee General Hospital, Kerry
I normally start my day at 8.30 p.m. I get a report from the night staff about any incidents over night, such as violent behaviour in casualty or a bad road traffic accident so that I am fully briefed.
Then I make sure that all the day staff are in. We are blessed with very good timekeepers here at Tralee General Hospital, which is so important in the running of a hospital.
There are 36 permanent porters and eight temporary staff. I do a lot of administration work such as overseeing sick leave and making up timetables.
Porters report to 16 departments. We do everything from bringing patients to the x-ray department, ensuring the plaster room is stocked, shaving patients and bringing remains to the mortuary.
Porters also work in the plaster room as plaster technicians and when there is need for a complicated cast, I will get called in.
At certain times, like after a bad road traffic accident, it is all hands to the wheel.
There have been a lot of changes here in the 21 years I have been here. The hospital has come on leaps and bounds and a huge amount of new departments have opened. It is going the way we want it to be. I am proud of the hospital and I want to make it as good as possible for the people of Kerry.
Porters get to see every single aspect of hospital life. Everything goes through our hands. It can be difficult at times and sometimes it is a case of putting on a different face to the outside world. You can't let it get inside you. If you do, you will crack up. I have seen it happen. People get shell-shocked. We have to be smiling, sympathetic and kind at all times. Everybody has a way of dealing with it - I swim.
Aside from that there is a lot of joy here too. The joy of seeing pain removed from the faces of people. Seeing their happiness being brought back to the door you brought them through a number of weeks before.
A good porter must integrate and speak to people. There are some patients who might not get a visitor from one end of the week to the next. They might be from west Kerry and if you take the time to say hello and engage in na cúpla focal you can literally brighten their day. A nice chat with a patient can get them out of a little depression they may be experiencing.
As a porter you have to be something to everyone and trust is absolutely paramount to the job.
I work all sorts of hours and usually only grab 15 to 20 minutes for lunch. You have to be flexible. I could be at home at 11 p.m. in front of the TV and get a call to come in because they are short staffed at the hospital.