Liffey Descent Canoe Marathon

Dr Finbarr O'Connell and his trusty canoe

In a personal fundraising effort, Dr Finbarr O'Connell, a consultant respiratory physician at St. James's, joined around 1,000 other canoeists in the 18-mile Liffey Descent Canoe Marathon on Saturday, September 9th 2007. For his efforts, Dr O'Connell raised funds for outpatient care for patients with chronic respiratory illness.

St. James's Hospital serves a population that has a higher than usual propensity to chronic respiratory disease - such as Asthma, COPD and Bronchiectasis - and while nurses and physiotherapists at the Respiratory Day Centre at St. James's provide essential outpatient programmes for patients, Dr O'Connells says: "We want to be able to do more - we know now how we can help people to cope better and live with better quality of life and buying new equipment now available will really help our patients."

This was Dr O'Connell's first Liffey Descent. He said: "Personally, I just wanted to survive - and be able to collect funds for our patients!" Dr O'Connell is the lead respiratory physician at St. James's and has worked here since 1993.

Contact us

St. James’s Hospital Foundation
St. James’s Hospital
James’s Street
Dublin 8
Ireland

Telephone + 353 1 428 4086
E-mail foundation@stjames.ie