New Institute of Health to be based at GAA air dome in Mayo

WORLD-LEADING health care provider UPMC and Connacht GAA have announced the establishment of a state-of-the-art UPMC Institute for Health that will be located at the NUIG Connacht Air Dome in Mayo and will benefit Connacht GAA, sporting groups and the wider community in the west of Ireland.

The partnership will see Ireland’s first UPMC Institute for Health open as early as this summer.

“Connacht GAA are delighted with the UPMC partnership which will open up the west of Ireland and our GAA community in particular to state-of-the-art facilities and to provide sports medicine, physiotherapy services and rehabilitation programmes for our communities closer to home,” said John Prenty, CEO of Connacht GAA.

“As an organisation that is recognised globally as a leading academic medical centre, UPMC is a health care provider known for inventing new models of patient-centred care. With hospitals in Kildare, Kilkenny and Waterford, as well as a sports medicine clinic at the WIT Arena (Waterford), this partnership with Connacht GAA is a welcome addition for the provision of healthcare services in the west,” said Trish Lane, chief operations officer (COO), UPMC in Ireland.

The UPMC Institute for Health is a collaborative model for patients and clinicians informed by academic research and models of preventive care developed by UPMC. The local community will benefit from the provision of sports medicine and physiotherapy services, as well as rehabilitation programmes for oncology, osteoarthritis, and cardiology. It will also include a falls prevention programme and ExWell medical exercise programmes for those suffering with chronic illness.

UPMC is the official health care partner of the GAA and GPA and the official sports medicine provider to Meath GAA, Kildare GAA, Wexford GAA, Waterford GAA, Kilkenny GAA Laois GAA and Carlow GAA.

Partnering with Connacht GAA will see its first location open in the west of Ireland.