When President Joe Biden arrives for a private visit to the Mayo Hospice on Friday, he will see that its founders have been just as true to their word.
A plaque at the entrance bears the name of his late son: Bo.
It marks the president’s previous visit when he ‘turned the fool’ at the 2017 groundbreaking ceremony, as well as the family connections that keep bringing him back to this western corner of Ireland.
President Biden has told us Beau’s name will forever be associated with this breed, and it is. This is the reason for the plaque on the front door, said Martina Jennings, executive director of the Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation.
Both President Biden’s name and Beau Biden’s name are because they used hospice services they knew and he was so excited that Mayo had her own nursing home. His passion equals ours.
Martina Jennings, CEO of the Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation, at the plaque erected in memory of Beau Biden and commemorating Joe Biden’s 2017 visit to “Fool’s Heart”
Biden visited in 2017 through a personal connection to hospice fundraising efforts in May, and has stayed in touch on progress since.
The White House kept the details under wraps until Thursday evening. Biden is scheduled to visit between visits to Knock Shrine – an Irish pilgrimage site – and the Family History Centre.
Before the nursing home opened in 2019, patients had to travel to Galway City or even Dublin, more than three hours away. That meant patients ended their lives in six-bed wards away from home.
“We just didn’t consider it respectful or respectful,” Jennings said.
The connection with Biden came through the fundraising efforts of Loretta Bloitt, a well-known podcaster who also happens to be the president’s third cousin.
She had known him during his visit in 2016 as Vice President.
‘I asked him to come back to turn the fool in the hospice the following year and be our patron and friend, I think really,’ said Jennings.
He returned in 2017, using a spade to dig the first ceremonial pediment out of the ground for what would become a $10 million facility with 14 inpatient rooms (with stunning views of the Irish landscape), plus wings for injured outpatients.
Biden turned his first goofy sprout at a Groncos smashing party at the new hospice in 2017
Biden was given a Mayo Gaelic football jersey by Jennings (right) and the president’s third cousin, Loretta Beloit, who still lives in his ancestral town.
Jennings said Biden spoke movingly during his hospice visit, which his son Beau (pictured here in 2009) lived with before he died at age 46 in 2015 from brain cancer.
More important than the spade, Jennings said, is Biden’s personal account of hospice care that helped his son Beau, who died of a brain tumor at age 46 just two years ago.
“It was the most emotional day,” she said. It was really informal.
His words that day reflected how we truly feel.
“So he got a home… You know his family was through hospice services.”
“And I think what really struck me is, even though they had family support, and they got all the support that they wanted, it really felt for people who didn’t have that support.”
He kept in touch with progress, and sent a video message at the opening of the new building.
Now he has the chance to see the place for himself.
A plaque marking Biden’s first visit, and perpetuating his son Boao’s name, takes pride of place at the entrance to the hospice at Co. Mayo
The $10 million facility was funded entirely by donations and opened in 2019. It has 14 inpatient rooms, as well as suites for outpatient services.
Jennings said excitement is building over the president’s visit to the region on Friday. But during an interview last week, she said she didn’t know if Biden would have time to see the hospice
“There is a lot of excitement,” Jennings said, days before confirming the visit.
We would be very proud if he came to see her because we promised him when he came to turn the fool that we would provide a sanctuary…not just a building.
And when you walk through the door you feel that this is undoubtedly a haven of love, respect, compassion and care. All these words.
“We want him to see that we kept our promise.”
On Friday, Biden heads out west, to Mayo Co., on the last day of his trip to the lands of his ancestors.
His last public appearance in Ireland will be a speech in front of St. Meredich’s Cathedral in Ballina.
About 20,000 people are expected to attend the president’s largest public event of the trip.
And it all takes place outside a 27,000-brick cathedral that Biden’s great-grandfather, Edward Beloit, sold before he left Ireland for the United States.
Remains of the Blewitt home are still visible in the backyard of an art gallery.
Palina prepares to welcome Biden into town, during the final day of his tour of Ireland
Up to 20,000 people are expected to turn up for a speech on Friday evening in front of St. Moridach’s Cathedral. From there, Biden will return to Dublin and then back to the United States
And Ballina is still home to the president’s third cousins (like Loretta Beloit), fourth and fifth… and even distant relatives.
Those live connections made the visit — his third — that much more special, said Dara Callery, who grew up in the city and is now a government minister.
“What he did for our nursing home really won hearts,” he said. So this is not just someone coming to take a picture.
He came up, and gave his name to the fundraiser. He gave his story and his life story to that.
“And so I think people feel they know him when they wouldn’t know any other American president.”
