Student Placements

The Home on behalf of its residents is delighted to welcome students from various local schools on transition year, and the regular students on social, or healthcare related courses who come to us on work experience. This is what some of their mentors have said:

Testimonials

I visited your facility at St. Luke's to have a three way meeting with three of our students there, and their placement supervisor, Eugene Browne.

I was exceptionally impressed at the training that our students received and the work skills that Eugene was facilitating for them. All the most talked about principles for social care practice, in this case as it applies to geriatric care, were in place: the respect of the 'personhood' of clients was obvious from the varying choice of activities presented to clients; the respect and dignity of clients was obvious in the day to day work; the efforts to promote independence for clients was obvious. I was able to tell my students that this centre contained the complete operationalisation of all aspects of the Social Model of Social Care with clients at the centre and consequent huge improvements in their personal happiness and quality of life.

Overall I have never seen a facility which incorporates such an excellently integrated model of care which draws in a totally balanced way from both the medical and social models of care. Tom O'Connor, College Lecturer in Social Care at C.I.T.

Practice placements are the core location for social work students to develop  and integrate knowledge, values and skills. In the case of St. Luke's Home, the Resident's Advocate employed is a qualified social worker. The opportunity therefore for the placement of UCC social work students from the School of Applied Social Studies has already begun. Through this experience, the college-based and agency-based curricula are brought together. It is hoped to continue this partnership on a regular basis, whereby social work students will come to St Luke's on placement for a 14 week block period. It is through this experience that skills initially discusses and practiced by the students in the classroom context, become operationalised and demonstrated 'live' while on placement.
Ruth Murray, Fieldwork Co-Ordinator, Applied Social Studies, University College Cork

The School of Nursing and Midwifery, University College Cork utilises St Lukes Home to accommodate both BSc general and psychiatric nursing students on their clinical practice. All placements utilised by students are audited on a cyclical basis to monitor the quality of the practice setting as a suitable clinical learning environment for BSc Nursing students.  In audits to date, St.Luke's Home has been deemed a suitable clinical learning environment for BSc nursing students.  Feedback from nursing students and clinical placement coordinators pertaining to clinical placements in St Luke's Home have been very positive.
Brigid Arkins, Link Lecturer, University College Cork

The opportunity that St Luke's gives to Douglas Community School to have some of our students attend for Community Service is much appreciated. We see it as essential for our Transition Years that they take part in their community in a helping capacity and St Luke's provides a top-class placement for those lucky enough to secure it. Our students have a chance to interact with the residents on a personal basis and they benefit greatly from the experience.
Owen Casey, Co-Ordinator Transition Year and Leaving Cert Vocational Programmes Douglas Community School, Clermont  Avenue, Douglas, Cork

Community Action participation for students of Ashton in St Luke's Home has been a most positive experience at all levels. Young people learn to appreciate 'difference' in age, health, disability, the importance of 'reaching out beyond ourselves' to help others, the significance of smiling at people politely, the impact of being 'genuine' with people. They also discover how much they, as young people, can learn from older people's wisdom, and experience of life. Specifically, they learn about the significance of making a commitment, time-keeping, and why it is so important when dealing with people who look forward to the young people returning each week to make a difference in their day.

They also learn through their experience of Community Action that they are not outside this world of the elderly, those with disability and so on, rather, that all of us have some sort of disability, whether it is poor eyesight, difficulty understanding a particular subject or topic, having difficulty with sport, asthma, eczema and so on, therefore, we are all equal in our disabilities, though varying in intensity.

Students always have a most positive experience during their time in St. Luke's, feeling quite relaxed while there. They feel integrated into all aspects of what is going on, and are clear on what their role and tasks are, as a result of the training they get at St. Luke's on their first day. This training inspires great confidence in students.
Geraldine Collins, Ashton Secondary School