Author: thevictoriathompsonfoundation.com

The Victoria Thompson Foundation Fund for the advancement of children's palliative care (Ireland).

3 Winning Scholarship Applications for 2022!!!

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On 8th March we were at NUIG university to present 3 scholarships to nurses studying their Masters & Post-Grad in Children’s Palliative Care & Complex Care.

Huge Congratulations to Emma Day, Michelle Kennedy, & Orlaith Casey!!!

We wish to thank all in the university, the NUIG Foundation, the marking committee, and all of the applicants. We also send love and gratitude to all of the nurses who care for life-limited children around the world.

Since Victoria’s scholarship started in 2017, twelve nurses from all over Ireland (and many palliative care settings) have been presented with funds to put towards their university fees. Thanks to our generous supporters we can continue the scholarship for many years to come.

XXx Magic

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Masters & PostGrad students, lecturers, (us), & winners

The Victoria Thompson Scholarship Winners 2021-2022

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Just a little update for you all.

The marking panel have selected two winners for The Victoria Thompson Scholarship. From a very high standard of applications, Katie Kelly and Rachel Clarke were selected.

The NUIG Foundation match our donation of €2,000. So, this means each winning student will receive €2,000 towards their fees. We wish to thank all applicants, the university faculty, the foundation, and all those working diligently in children’s palliative care services.

There was no formal presentation this year, but here is a little bio and photo of each candidate. Huge thanks and congratulations to both students in the Masters and Post Graduate programme in NUI Galway.

  • Katie Kelly
  • Rachel Clarke

Katie Kelly, Galway: RNID and RCN. Trained as an RNID in Trinity College, Dublin/Stewart’s Care, Palmerstown. Completed H. Dip in Children’s Nursing in DCU/ CHI Temple Street, Dublin. Staff nurse experience in varied areas: Intellectual Disability/ challenging behaviour, paediatric emergency department, Home care Nurse with the Jack and Jill Foundation, paediatric haematology and oncology in Saudi Arabia, children’s general medical and surgical and paediatric complex/ high dependency care in the UAE. Aspires to assist in the further development of specialist services in children’s complex and palliative care in rural Ireland.

Rachel Clarke successfully completed her undergraduate degree in Intellectual Disability Nursing in Trinity College Dublin in 2016. Following that, she worked in Hazel House, a children’s disability respite service for children with intellectual disabilities and complex care needs. It was during this time she started to work with the Jack and Jill Foundation, and continues to do so. The following year, she commenced a Higher Diploma in Paediatric Nursing in DCU and Temple Street Children’s Hospital. Once qualified, she worked on the neonatal ward in Temple Street for just over a year. Currently, she is employed as a Paediatric Client Care Manager with Communicare, a private home-care company. In her role, she supports children with complex care and palliative care needs in the community. She decided to do the MSc in Children’s Palliative Care and Complex Care in NUIG to become a specialist practitioner in this area. Her ambition is to support children and families by providing a holistic and evidence based approach in her practice.

Well done to all students and congratulations to the winners of The Victoria Thompson Scholarship!

Latest News. March ’19. Presentation of two scholarships NUIG university.

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We were thrilled to present a scholarship to two nurses in the Masters programme for children’s palliative care and complex care in NUIG university, in Victoria’s memory.

The thrilling news came through that the programme recently gained established status by the School of Nursing at NUI Galway in partnership with their colleagues in UCD. This is huge and welcome news. This means the course will progress into the future. Well done Claire Quinn, this is due to your vision and hard work!

The Victoria Thompson Scholarship is also spurred on with interest and support from the Galway University Foundation who stepped in to match our donation to the Masters programme. Therefore, there are now two scholarships of €2,000 for nurses on this prestigious course, in Victoria’s memory.

The progression of the scholarship is ongoing and our AGM in May will add new dimensions to what we hope to achieve.

For now, HUGE congratulations to the two very worthy winners of The Victoria Thompson Scholarship 2019,  Heather Power and LeeAnne Heneghan.

Sincere thank you to everyone involved in the course, all the applicants, the course directors and other students, the NUIG foundation, the marking committee and our sponsors.

We hope to do a follow-up post on all past winners and how they are progressing in their chosen career paths. These nurses are super heroes in our eyes and we wish to thank them continuously for what they do.

Thank you Heather Power and LeeAnne Heneghan for applying and agreeing to be our recipients for 2019.

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Brian Thompson, Sharon Thompson, Heather Power (winner), Margaret Wright (Project Manager Galway University Foundation).

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Winner LeeAnne Heneghan.

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Presentations – Thank you to Margaret Wright (Project Manager, Galway University Foundation), Claire Quinn (course founder and director) and Deirdre Fitzgerald (faculty).

 

More magic on the way soon.

Recent magical happenings.

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Auction of signage was completed in November and Redcastle Oceanfront Golf and Spa had the winning bid of €1,200 for this year. Sincere thanks to Feleena McCallion and all at Redcastle Oceanfront Golf and Spa for their continued support.

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The nurses from the NUIG Masters and Post-grad course graduated in November. How proud are we of these wonderful hard-working nurses who have returned to study (as well as work) in children’s palliative care and complex care. Sincere thanks to Claire Quinn and NUIG for allowing us to be part of the process in this small way and well done to all of the graduates for 2018!

 

Santa Claus the movie was aired in Century Cinema in Letterkenny. Sponsored and organised by Rushe Fitness and Maria Rushe (The S Mum). We shared the amazing amount raised with the Jack and Jill Foundation and have another €1,100 each for our charities. Thank you to all who attended the film, organised and sponsored the event. It is a magical event where children are involved. That makes it so special, at this time of year.

A little video of the year’s round-up is on its way. We aim to have much more to celebrate and tell you about in 2019.

The magic continues. We love and miss you always Victoria. xx

Charity auction for rental of sign in Moville. Oct 2018-2019.

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Auction time again for

The Victoria Thompson Scholarship.

Businesses have expressed an interest in renting the sign at the Coalyard, Moville.
We aim to rent this signage on an annual basis with the funds going to The Victoria Thompson Scholarship.
 
This is prominent signage space with an electricity supply (on timer and sensor) is on the entrance/exit to the town of Moville.
 
If you rent this spot you can erect your own signage from 1st Oct 2018 – 1st Oct 2019.
 
We are a registered charity (which may help businesses for tax purposes).
 
Obviously, the sign must be maintained and be of a good standard. We kindly ask for the year’s rent to be paid in full before any new sign is put in place.
 
If you are interested please contact Brian on 0862590500 with an offer to rent this signage for the year Oct 2018- Oct 2019.
The highest bid is the fairest way to secure this advertising space. 
Please pass the word to those who you feel may be interested.
 
Thank you for your interest and help,
Yours sincerely, The Victoria Thompson Scholarship.

Recently we have been very lucky to have more support from some very dedicated people.

The new owners of the Foyle Hotel, Brian and Brenda McDermott presented us with a cheque for €1,000. This was collected at the huge book launch of Brian McDermott’s successful cookbook Donegal Table. Local support is special and unending. Thank you to everyone who donated prizes for the raffle on the night, and to all those who purchased tickets. We are extremely grateful.

Sarah Barr, Counsellor at New Beginnings, is one of our main supporters since the very early days of Victoria’s illness. In recent months, Sarah has undertaken two events for the scholarship. The first was a Baby Bump painting afternoon. Monies donated and collected from this gorgeous event went to our charity.

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We want to thank all involved on the day. Those who donated these beautiful gifts (and more) above, and to all those who kindly contributed in anyway.

Caroline Doherty then joined Sarah, in a collection day in Buncrana! The joint take for both events, is a wonderful €320! Sincere appreciation to all who stopped with these fine ladies and donated on the day.

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Our signage at the entrance to Moville village will also be up for auction shortly. Details of this will be posted to the Facebook page and we will try to spread the news by word-of -mouth, so that local business can be involved, if they so wish. Last year, Redcastle Oceanfront Golf and Spa won the auction. They gave us €1,000 for the use of the sign. Thank you to the staff and management of Redcastle Hotel.

The ladies sailing race in memory of Victoria is taking place on 22nd September this year. In advance, we wish to extend our thanks to Moville Boat Club, the boat owners, skippers and crews.

Thank you to all those who are keeping the magic alive.

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Presentation of this year’s scholarship March 2018.

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It is with great emotion and pleasure we attended the presentation for this year’s winner of The Victoria Thompson Scholarship in NUIG on March 13th. Victoria’s scholarship is linked with the prestigious Masters/Post-grad in Children’s palliative care and complex care in NUIG university.

Claire Lynott applied with other course participants in this the second year of the scholarship competition. Her winner entry was selected when marked by the committee for the Victoria Thompson Scholarship. Six applications were received on the topic of ‘How the scholarship and course will benefit my future career in palliative care and complex care’ and the standard was extremely high.

We want to thank the course and its director, Claire Quinn for all their hard work and dedication on this highly credited course. NUIG are very forward in their thinking and compassion, in making this course the first of it kind in Ireland. Their continued and expanding interest in children’s palliative care studies is greatly appreciated. Without such courses, terminally ill children in Ireland would be relying on ad hoc services and training. The nurses who take part in the course are highly dedicated to the sector and work closely with families who need their specialised care.

It makes us glad to know that into the future nurses will be more readily available for children, like Victoria, who receive a devastating diagnosis.

The Victoria Thompson Scholarship registered as a charity and fundraisers have happened and will continue to happen in memory of Victoria, who died in 2012, after receiving palliative care due to a rare disease.

There will be more exciting news for us coming soon and we want to thank everyone, all of our supporters, donors, funders and supporters, for helping us advance children’s palliative care in Ireland.

Baby Bump Painting Fundraiser for Maternal Mental Health.

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To celebrate World Maternal Mental Health & to raise awareness for Maternal Mental Health in Donegal, New Beginnings, Simply Birth Donegal & Donegal Doula & Placenta Encapsulation Services have came up with an idea 👇

🤰Baby Bump Painting is an event for mums-to-be & mums in Donegal🤰
Let’s start the conversation & make our wellness a priority 👌

⏳ Save the Date:

The event will be hosted in New Beginnings Wellness Hub, Letterkenny, Saturday 5th May. More details will be released at a further date.

🌸 New Beginnings Wellness Hub has an holistic approach to wellness & we are delighted to have the following inspirational Donegal mothers guest speaking on the day:

🔸️Anne from Simply Birth Donegal
🔸️ Caroline from Donegal Doula & Placenta Encapsulation Services
🔸️ Glenda from Gutsy World
🔸️ Maria aka The S-Mum
🔸️ Julie from Parent Hub, Donegal
🔸️ Sarah from New Beginnings.
🔸️ & more speakers to be confirmed 👐

They will have Bump Painting, Reflexology Tasters, Prizes & much more on the day 🎉

ALL money raised on will be donated to The Victoria Thompson Scholarship 💜

Please share with all your mum friends & mums-to-be 👩‍👧‍👦

Let’s start the conversation ladies about our mental health 💕
#maternalmentalhealth

Thank you to all involved from us at The Victoria Thompson Scholarship. xxx

 

The Polar Express Adventure on the 2nd December at Century Cinemas, Letterkenny.

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The S-Mum, Maria Rushe contacted me and asked if we’d like to be on board the Polar Express adventure on December 2nd 2017.

Although we aware of Maria’s awarding winning blog, we had never met her. Golden tickets were printed and she sold out in 90 minutes! But I know that a great deal of time and organisation went into raising the €1,000 for our scholarship (and another €1,000 went to the wonderful Jack and Jill Foundation.)

We got a present of tiny bells on joining the excited queue. Of course the children had to get their photos taken with the Conductor Emmet who punched their special tickets  (Rushe Fitness sponsor and husband of Maria is the conductor.) We took our seats with an excited packed cinema.

Conductor Emmet

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Presenting the cheque to us, for funds already in our account, shows you the organisation of Maria Rushe.

Polar Express Cheque presentation

The overall tally is now a whopping €1,000 each for the two charities.

Conductor's hat and glasses

Christmas is hard for those who’ve lost loved-ones. Having this event told us that although we are without Victoria again this Christmas ….. her magic lives on. Thank you to all involved and to all who came. The spontaneous tinkle of those bells when Santa arrived on screen was very moving.

Large gratitude to Rushe Fitness, The S-Mum and Century Cinemas. Although Victoria never got to the cinema – she has now, in her own little magical way.

Thank you Maria Rushe x The S-Mum from all at The Victoria Thompson Scholarship.

Maria Rushe

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