| Ken Dickson |
 Ken Dickson has worked primarily in retail pharmacy since 1946 but over the years he has also been responsible for providing
pharmaceutical services to a number of nursing homes. Ken’s involvement with the Marie Curie Centre in Belfast (formerly Beaconfield
Nursing Home) began in 1964, the year before it opened. He first heard about the Home when he saw an artist’s impression of
the building in the Belfast Telegraph. He contacted Marie Curie in London and met up with Alan Barrow, who was responsible
for all Marie Curie Nursing Homes, and he introduced Ken to the Matron of the Marie Curie Centre in Belfast. Ken was then
asked if he would like to be pharmacist to the Home. In 1975 he was invited to join the house committee and in 1988/89 was
appointed chairman. He resigned from this post in 1996 and the following year the committee was dissolved. He retired as pharmacist
in 1998 but his sons continue to provide a service to the Home. Ken begins by talking about how the Home was run in the early
years: the organisation of staff; the types of patients admitted; its management; the relationship with Marie Curie headquarters,
the reaction of the local community and his own role as pharmacist. He then goes on to discuss the work of the house committee
and his own efforts to initiate fundraising for the Home; the principal changes that have occurred, particularly the transition
from nursing home to hospice and the recent change in management; the main problems encountered; the impact of the religious
and political situation in Northern Ireland; the geographical separation of Northern Ireland from the rest of the UK; and
their relationship with the other hospices in the Province, Marie Curie Head Office and the other Marie Curie Centres in the
rest of the UK. Ken ends by talking about what he feels the future holds for the Centre in Belfast.
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| Interview conducted by Clare Humphreys, 2 August 2000 |
| Interview Duration: 64 minutes |
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