‘You do your job and hope you’ve made a difference’

DR PATRICK Troy retired last month, along with other colleagues from the Aisling Clinic in Cherry Orchard, after spending 27 years helping those with addiction issues.

Dr Troy’s involvement in treating people with drug addiction came about shortly after he graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in the early 1990s.

He noticed there was a need for doctors in addiction services at that time, so he spent time as a locum doctor in those services before being hired to work in the Aisling Clinic in 1995.

At that time, many of the clinic’s patients also had HIV and AIDS, as a result of sharing needles, and by the early 1990s Dublin West accounted for one-third of all AIDS and HIV cases in Ireland.

“There is a lot of stigmatisation towards drugs and drug addicts, and doctors, nurses and pharmacists are no different – we all have our own prejudices,” Dr Troy told The Echo.

“But ultimately these people need to be treated. The reason the clinic was set up was because people couldn’t get addiction treatment elsewhere.”

When Dr Troy began his career, many drug users were in the grip of the heroin epidemic, but he has witnessed the changing trends in drug use and addiction over the years.

Now poly-drug use is common, and other drugs such as crack cocaine and cocaine are rising in popularity and are becoming the dominant drugs being used by people accessing addiction services.

“There was a heroin epidemic from 1986 onwards,” said Dr Troy. “I look back on it now, and it was complex though it was also simple.

“We were able to use things like methadone to treat people on heroin, but unfortunately with cocaine and crack, we don’t have that. The landscape will be entirely different in a few years.”

Over the course of his career, Dr Troy worked in addiction clinics in Tallaght, Bray and Baggot Street, and set up clinics in Carlow and Waterford.

Due to his work, he often got a glimpse into the chaotic lifestyles that many people in the throes of addiction have and the difficulties it can pose.

“We would’ve frequently had physical and verbal assaults against doctors and staff, intimidation of staff and sometimes a patient would be sitting in front of you wearing a bullet-proof vest,” he said.

“But there was a very good team there and we worked together very well. The treating of the addicts was always a team effort.”

The precarious nature of his work in the clinic never dissuaded Dr Troy from his job, and he looks at his impact on patients and clients in the Aisling Clinic in a pragmatic way.

“I would never have questioned not going in,” he explained. “You’d get in and you’d do your job and do your best, and you can only hope you’ve made a difference.

“When you’re dealing with chronic medicine and chronic illness, you’ll probably never be able to cure that, but you can help people so it’s not a problem.

“Addiction is not a disease that you can cure. No matter how well you do, the person could relapse.

“But during the time when they’re stabilised, they can get back with their families and their partners, they can stay out of prison, they can get a job – these are minor successes, but they have a tremendous impact on society.”

Dr Troy hung up his stethoscope on his last day in the Aisling Clinic on June 16 to commence his retirement, which will see him spending more time with his family.

“I’ve done my bit,” Dr Troy remarked. “I could quite easily have stayed on, but I feel like I’ve done enough.

“The fashions of addiction change, opiates are gone and now it’s cocaine and crack. I’m older, and you have to be fairly young and able to handle any adverse situations that come up.”

As for the patients he has seen over the years and their families, particularly during the heroin epidemic of the 80s and 90s, Dr Troy wanted to acknowledge their loss.

“The families and people of Dublin West, in Ballyfermot and Clondalkin, who lost children during this epidemic – their grief and loss lives with them everyday and will never be forgotten,” he said.

“The families of the drug addicts were great people to work with, but the impact of their loss was extreme. They must never be forgotten.”