Maggie Murphy and Maureen Loughney

McCann’s Irish Oatmeal and Personal Injury Attorney Jim McGing present the Hibernian Radio Hour. We continue our focus on Irish First Responders and are proud to revisit a show from last summer with a pair of ladies who shared their wisdom with us from their long careers as paramedics for the Chicago Fire Department: Maureen Loughney, who grew up in Bridgeport, was the 9th woman hired by CFD in 1975 and spent 30 years on the job. And Maggie Murphy, currently Paramedic Commander working out of Midway airport, with 23 years on the job. Maureen helped train Maggie when she started on her ambulance. We cover a lot of ground with these two friends and they share a philosophy of service. Maureen once told a young rookie paramedic, “Treat every patient as if they were your grandma, treat people like family.” And Maggie tells us, “We have a society that doesn’t expect anybody to accept responsibility for themselves, so it falls to the paramedics, and firefighters, and police to clean up all their dirty stuff. Don’t miss the stories and lessons learned from these two pals as they reminisce on their outstanding and selfless careers helping others. Between the two of them they’ve probably delivered more babies than they can count! Mo says, “It was a great job, but you have to like people.” Brilliant stuff from both these wonderful and courageous women!

Mike Corrigan

Our second guest via phone is New York lady, Cheryl Ann Cassidy. Not only does Cheryl sing, she also teaches music at an elementary school in Queens. She tells us how she rose to Facebook fame because of her singing video on the ‘Forgotten Ireland” page and also chats about how her parents both hail from County Tyrone as well as her husband! We take a musical break and listen to Cheryl’s beautiful rendition of “Song For Ireland“. Our final guest via phone this week is an old friend of Houli’s, Mike Corrigan. Mike has been helping to raise funds to provide First Responders with free daily meals in the many hospitals around Chicago during the pandemic. The fundraiser started on April 25th and they’re goal is to reach 20k – You can donate here. Mike tells us about his role at Proviso and the craic is mighty between these himself and Houli! Houli takes us through the most recent obituaries to finish out another action-packed show. Have a listen for yourselves!