Latest news with #AHR
The National
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Local heroes bringing hospital radio to Ayrshire for over 70 years
Ayr Hospital Radio (AHR) began broadcasting in 1953 and has provided more than seven decades of songs and chat of all styles for its listeners – and like many others, is serving up important entertainment and opportunities to this day. Plus, as another jingle adds, you'll find something to enjoy 'even if you're not in hospital'. From the home of Ayr United Football Club, Somerset Park, volunteer-led live matchday commentaries have been relayed to the local hospital hubs in South Ayrshire alongside scheduled shows of music ranging from soul, latest hits and classic favourites. READ MORE: Labour have 'given up' on by-election amid SNP-Reform contest, says John Swinney AHR chair John O'Donnell says that the running of this radio station is 'tailored to the needs of their listeners'. 'This service helps alleviate loneliness and anxiety, creating a sense of connection for patients who may feel isolated from the outside world,' he explains. For Niall Anderson, chair of the Hospital Broadcasting Service in Glasgow, hospital radio is a 'great training ground for future broadcasters' with household names such as George Bowie and Ken Bruce first heard here. 'I've been involved in hospital radio since the 1970s,' he says. 'The reason I've stayed is that I quickly saw the positive impact it had not only on listeners but also on those volunteering to deliver service. 'Originally hospital radio could only be heard using a headset installed at the bedside. These days we stream on the internet and not only does this mean higher sound quality, but it also allows real interaction between patients and their loved ones. 'For hospital radio to remain relevant, it needs to keep pace with the times and offer what people would expect from any radio station including features such as Listen Again – giving the chance to hear a show at a time that suits them.' Live football commentary is a key part of the puzzle. AHR has included visually impaired supporters at the Honest Men's home fixtures. O'Donnell believes this item offers a 'sense of normality and escapism.' (Image: Durham Hospital Radio) An 'inaugural match' against Dundee United in November 1953, according to club historian Duncan Carmichael, started this journey. An upgrade followed, with the opening of a studio in 1959 tucked away in the stadium's southwest corner hiding an interior that feels like you've stepped into a time capsule. One man's vital contribution in constructing this unit, and whose presence preserves the origins of the commentary relays, is that of former army and telecoms worker Willie Shields. At the age of 96, his services providing vivid and professional commentary in the role, as an Ayr supporter, means he still 'feels like a young boy'. He can still recall how he got himself up to this historic studio that is nearing its 66th anniversary. 'The room you're sitting in, I did all the electrical work and a fair bit of the woodwork for it, we built this ourselves,' he says. 'Being a commentator made you more interested in the club, and you were doing something for them. They didn't pay us at all, we were doing it for free, but we had to get the money in to go on air every time.' HBSA Radio's offering chimes with Shields's assessment. Based in Crosshouse since the mid-1970s, the second Ayrshire hospital broadcast service has provided audio descriptive commentary from rivals Kilmarnock Football Club from their home fixtures at Rugby Park since 2018. Station manager Mark Fisher believes that offering the commentary throughout the seven years has 'raised the profile'. He says: 'This has been great for listeners and has provided some amazing opportunities for our local volunteers to get into this very niche activity. The club is a huge part of local life, so it is great to be associated with them. 'The programmes are all presented by local people and we never air syndicated shows from elsewhere. Hospital radio is a valuable resource run by people from the community and hopefully that community benefits from it.' Community, engagement and uplifting others are the outstanding sentiments from the long-running radio broadcast systems throughout Scotland operating on a stalwart, voluntary-led basis. As AHR chair O'Donnell adds: 'Whether it is music, requests, football, cricket, or other major sporting occasions, the volunteers who run these stations bring dedication and enthusiasm ensuring that the content is relevant to those in care.'
Irish Examiner
28-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Case of Cork woman refused access to her dead husband's sperm raised in Seanad
'Highly sensitive and complex factors' would need to be fully resolved before a decision could be made on whether the State should fund the posthumous use of spouse's eggs or sperm in assisted human reproduction, according to a junior minister. Minister of state Marian Harkin was responding in the Seanad to a question posed in the case of Macroom woman Melanie Dineen, whose late husband Dylan Fleming had given written consent for her to use his frozen sperm to conceive their child after his death. However, Ms Dineen has been informed she cannot proceed with IVF through the public system using the frozen samples, because there is no protocol in place to cover such a scenario. Sinn Féin senator Nicole Ryan raised the case in the Seanad, describing it as 'heartbreaking and unjust'. Ms Harkin said she could not talk about individual cases. But she said: 'There are potentially highly sensitive and complex factors which arise here and these would need to be fully teased out, resolved and a firm decision agreed upon before it is decided whether, notwithstanding what is permitted in the relevant legislation, the State should fund this very distinct form of AHR treatment." Ms Harkin said health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill was focused "through the full implementation of the model of care for fertility, on ensuring that patients receive care at the appropriate level of clinical intervention and then those requiring, and eligible for, advanced AHR treatment such as IVF will be able to access same through the public health system". She said Ms Carroll MacNeill was 'eager to see' how the scheme could be grown either through widening criteria or the range of services available. 'The minister hopes to be in a position to announce a clear plan of action in this regard in the coming weeks.' Read More Grieving Cork woman is being 'blocked' from having a child with dead husband
Irish Examiner
28-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Sarah Harte: Surrogacy situation threatens to end up like the Handmaid's Tale
I watched the movie Private Life at the weekend, a brilliant film on Netflix about the complications of assisted parenthood. Rachel and Richard, played by Kathryn Hahn and Paul Giamatti, are desperate to have a much-longed-for child. This poignant, sometimes hilarious comedy drama makes astute yet non-judgmental observations about the deep biological urge to have a child and the lengths to which a couple failing at expensive $10,000- a-pop IVF may go. Rachel and Richard enlist the services of Richard's stepniece, Sadie, a floundering college dropout who agrees to act as an egg donor, but lacks the emotional maturity to understand the implications of this decision. The film is particularly good on the ethics of the fertility industry, which may profit from people desperate to have a baby. It also subtly raises points about the quagmire of ethical issues around egg donation and, in an indirect way, surrogacy, which is back in the news here. This month, health minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill announced in the Dáil that there is no fixed timeline for the commencement of the Assisted Reproduction Act (AHR), due to concerns of a clash between the act and an EU Directive aimed at preventing human trafficking involving surrogacy which must be transposed into Irish law by 2026. The act was passed in 2023 but has not yet come into force. This will be incredibly disappointing to surrogacy campaigners and to parents of around 1,000 children, neither of whom has legal rights to their children until legislation retrospectively amends the situation The lack of legislation affects children regarding birth registration, citizenship entitlements, and access to health care. Apparently, a new piece of legislation is being worked on to take account of the EU directive, and it is clear to me that there is still much to work out due to inconsistencies and deficits in the AHR. The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has expressed concerns about the 'highly unusual' approach taken by Irish legislators to commercial global surrogacy. Many European countries have a complete ban on surrogacy. Surrogacy allows either a couple or an individual to have a child using a surrogate mother who agrees to carry a child to term with the intention that the intended parents (or parent) become the legal parents after the child is born. The medical possibilities vary depending on whether a surrogate carries the baby to full gestation using the couple's sperm and ova, the surrogate donates the ova, and the biological father's sperm is used, or both donor ova and donor sperm are used, with the surrogate carrying the child. In many ways, the law, which is by its nature slow to develop, has not kept pace with lightning speed changes in medical and reproductive advances and perhaps social attitudes. In a 2014 case, the then Chief Justice Susan Denham said nothing in the Constitution prevented the Oireachtas from legislating for surrogacy. She noted that surrogacy laws 'affect the status and rights of persons, especially those of the children.' We are obliged to protect Irish children's rights under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which includes guaranteeing rights to all without discrimination of any kind. This affects the 1000 children with a right to identity from birth, which arguably includes the interpretation of the right to your birth family. Last year, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children asked legislators to incorporate the 'best interest of the child' principles into the act to avoid sidelining children's rights. Unfortunately, this has not happened. Whether it's a human right to have a child is a thorny question. It's not an explicitly named right. Yet, even if it is like all rights, it can be curtailed and limited by other rights. Culturally, we've evolved from seeing children as property whom we can raise as we wish to viewing them as independent beings within their own set of distinct rights. With the current lack of legislation, some Irish children are effectively legally left stateless and parentless, with the intended parents often seen as legal strangers to their children. This is to nobody's benefit Imagine a situation where a child was hospitalised, then the intended parents would not be legally entitled or able to give medical consent for a life-saving procedure or care. Surrogacy, however, is a highly complex area both legally and ethically. Under the new act, an Assisted Human Reproduction Regulatory Authority is proposed to be established, which will regulate a wide range of complex reproductive practices within Ireland and potentially surrogacy and donor-assisted decisions undertaken in other jurisdictions. One of the functions presumably of the authority would be to ensure that Irish couples or individuals do not become involved even indirectly in surrogacy arrangements involving human trafficking, which is key when an increasing number of Irish people are availing of surrogacy arrangements abroad, in countries such as Ukraine and India. It's evident that we need to set up a functioning framework as quickly as possible for properly regulated legal arrangements. Currently, most commercial surrogacy remains unregulated, underregulated or wrongly regulated, and it's always better to face up to reality. Concerns around surrogacy at the EU level, with a widened EU Directive introducing new penalties next year for those who participate in the exploitation of surrogacy, centre on the vast potential for the exploitation of poorer women as surrogates as well as the commodification and trafficking of children. As in many countries, you cannot pay for surrogacy in Ireland beyond a surrogate's reasonable expenses, but the new AHR, when it comes into force, will allow Irish parents to engage in commercial surrogacy abroad, provided they do so within the terms of the Act. First, there seems to be an ideological lack of cohesion here. Why should commercial surrogacy be domestically prohibited while allowing Irish couples to engage in commercial international surrogacy? It reminds me of the Irish solution to the Irish problem approach we once took to abortion. We had no abortion here, but we turned a blind eye to the thousands of women forced to go abroad for an abortion. It was a deep-seated form of hypocrisy. Secondly, if you drill into the details, while commercial surrogacy is allowed abroad under the act, only reasonable expenses to the surrogates are permitted, although many other payments are permissible, including payments of intermediaries' fees, which I would have thought is potentially red-flag territory where trafficking and exploitation are concerned. The categorisation of surrogacy as either 'altruistic' or 'commercial' is interesting. Often, only the surrogate is expected to act altruistically, while doctors and lawyers (and presumably shadowy others in some instances) involved in the process can legally be paid. Why should surrogates not be properly compensated? Naturally, altruistic surrogacy is often something by another name, in that altruism is a façade with actual compensation concealed within 'reasonable expenses.' But how on earth are you protecting a surrogate by making it a criminal offence for her to accept more than reasonable expenses, while other professionals and third-party intermediaries involved in the chain between intended parents and surrogate can profit handsomely? I would have thought regulating these parties was precisely where the focus should be. One stomach-churning development has been high-profile, vastly wealthy celebrities turning to surrogacy, like Kim Kardashian, who effectively rented another woman's womb. We live in a crazy world where, increasingly, the rich can buy anything they want. Outsourcing gestation requires careful legal and ethical consideration if we are to avoid a scenario like The Handmaid's Tale. Children's rights should be paramount in this debate, and that includes the 1000 children effectively in legal limbo. However, the murky international surrogacy racket needs to be spotlighted so that poor women are not used and abused, and children are not bought and sold. Read More Terry Prone: We recall Ronald Reagan fondly but he was every bit as bad as Donald Trump
Irish Independent
25-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Independent
Irish surrogacy laws now delayed as human trafficking concerns are raised
The Government has delayed commencing surrogacy laws amid concerns they could clash with an EU directive aimed at preventing human trafficking. Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill said in a parliamentary response this month that she cannot give a timeline as to when provisions of the Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) Act, passed last July, will start or when a new AHR amendment bill dealing with related issues, including retrospective surrogacy, will come into effect.
Business Insider
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Analysts Are Bullish on These NA Stocks: American Healthcare REIT, Inc. (AHR), CG Oncology, Inc. (CGON)
There's a lot to be optimistic about in the NA sector as 2 analysts just weighed in on American Healthcare REIT, Inc. (AHR – Research Report) and CG Oncology, Inc. (CGON – Research Report) with bullish sentiments. Confident Investing Starts Here: American Healthcare REIT, Inc. (AHR) RBC Capital analyst Michael Carroll maintained a Buy rating on American Healthcare REIT, Inc. on May 13 and set a price target of $39.00. The company's shares closed last Wednesday at $34.19. According to Carroll is a 5-star analyst with an average return of 7.4% and a 59.6% success rate. Carroll covers the NA sector, focusing on stocks such as Easterly Government Properties, Diversified Healthcare Trust, and First Industrial Realty. American Healthcare REIT, Inc. has an analyst consensus of Strong Buy, with a price target consensus of $37.00, representing a 7.7% upside. In a report issued on April 28, Jefferies also initiated coverage with a Buy rating on the stock with a $37.00 price target. CG Oncology, Inc. (CGON) RBC Capital analyst Gregory Renza maintained a Buy rating on CG Oncology, Inc. on May 13 and set a price target of $68.00. The company's shares closed last Wednesday at $24.17, close to its 52-week low of $23.91. According to Renza is a 4-star analyst with an average return of 7.7% and a 40.3% success rate. Renza covers the Healthcare sector, focusing on stocks such as Perspective Therapeutics, Verrica Pharmaceuticals, and ACADIA Pharmaceuticals. The word on The Street in general, suggests a Strong Buy analyst consensus rating for CG Oncology, Inc. with a $60.25 average price target, implying a 150.1% upside from current levels. In a report issued on May 2, J.P. Morgan also initiated coverage with a Buy rating on the stock with a $41.00 price target.
