A daughter’s promise that turned grief into hope - and changed dementia care in Mayo
Among this year’s honourees for the Mayo People of the Year Awards is Frances Casey-Maloney, who has been recognised for her unwavering commitment to improving the lives of people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia, and their families.
For her, the award is deeply personal. It recognises not just years of hard work, but it also honours a journey that began with her father’s diagnosis of dementia in 2008, and a promise she made to him to build him a house.
Ms Casey-Maloney has been the driving force behind the establishment of the Foxford and District Alzheimer’s Trust and its dementia-specific day care service, which has now expanded into a purpose-built Social Clubhouse that offers a care service for people with Alzheimer's.
“Unexpected was my initial reaction,” Ms Casey-Maloney said. She first heard about her nomination one evening last week, when a friend contacted her to say that the board of the Foxford and District Alzheimer Trust had agreed to submit an application on her behalf.
The nomination came from Mary Hopkins, a volunteer at the Memories Charity Shop on Bridge Street, a funding arm of the Trust.
“That’s a massive endorsement, that my peers felt that this was something to be done,” she said, adding that she felt overwhelmed by the kind response from the community.
After returning home to Mayo, Ms Casey-Maloney and her brother set up an engineering practice in Foxford. Her father, Dick Casey, had recently taken early retirement following a series of mini-strokes, which would later lead to his dementia diagnosis.
She explained that her dad would often accompany her at work, and those shared moments became precious memories as she got to know her dad as an adult.
“I got to see him as a person, not just Dad. We used to have great craic going off together doing the surveys. We spent a lot of time together. But we noticed changes in him and eventually he got a diagnosis in 2008 of vascular dementia,” she said.
“We didn’t have a clue what it was as a family,” she explained. “Then as time went on, we realised that it wasn’t going to go away and things weren’t going to get better.”
As her mother, Marion Casey, took on the role of primary carer, the reality of the illness began to sink in.
“She came up to me one day and said, ‘I can’t do this anymore’. The illness was seeping through, so that is when I started looking for support and services for her.”
After visiting an Alzheimer’s day care centre in Castlebar, Ms Casey-Maloney realised there were no similar services in east Mayo. That gap planted a seed in her mind - she would open up a dementia day care.
The Foxford & District Alzheimer's Trust was established in 2012, and in April of that year Mr Casey became the first person to attend the day care in Foxford.
By July, Ms Casey-Maloney had left her engineering career to focus full-time on developing dementia services in Mayo.
“That’s where my championing started, and I’ve worked in healthcare ever since,” she explained. “It’s been a long road and it’s not been without its challenges.”
The Trust was independent of any state funding, meaning Ms Casey-Maloney and a team of volunteers had to self-fund the day-care service.
“I learnt the value of a euro when I started fundraising back in 2012,” she said.
Realising this was not sustainable in the long term, the Trust opened its Memories Charity Shop in August 2014, with proceeds going directly to the charity.
“The shop is volunteer-run, and without them we would not have been able to keep going all these years. It’s a big support and a big platform of awareness that keeps the charity visible, even in terms of the visibility of dementia and raising awareness,” she said.
In 2015, Mr Casey passed away. The family commemorated his tenth anniversary last week.
Ms Casey-Maloney explained how, in 2020, when the Covid-19 lockdown happened, her mother came to live with her.
“I realised things weren’t quite right. That was in March 2020, and by September, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. She passed in April 2022.”
“I couldn’t believe that lightning had struck twice. To see both of your parents succumb to the viciousness of dementia,
“It doesn’t discriminate, it’s an apolitical disease, it doesn’t care who you are, it’s so vicious it just attacks.”
Despite enduring such personal loss, Ms Casey-Maloney channeled her grief into action, motivated by a promise she made to her father.
“The motivation for me has always been about honouring the promise I made to my Dad,” she said.
The FACT Social Club, an expansion of the day-care service, first opened its doors in 2022. It offered social support, exercise classes, and respite care for people living with dementia.
Three years later, on October 18, 2025, her vision reached its next milestone with the opening of the purpose-built FACT Clubhouse.
Ms Casey-Maloney remembers the moment the idea took shape and how she knew the facility needed to be different - a home away from home that used language and design to make people feel welcome.
Mr Casey, a keen golfer who often played at Ballina Golf Club, told his daughter that those living with dementia deserve a place to call their own - a home.
“That’s where I came up with the ‘Clubhouse’ language,” she said, “So we have our FACT Social Clubhouse and we have members, just like the golf clubs have members.”
“It’s a membership, and you belong to a club. It’s all about destigmatising. The language is so important in terms of what you use,” she added.
“So I said, Dad, I’ll build you a house, I promise. That’s my promise honoured now.”
Between community fundraising, the establishment of the Memories Charity Shop, and years of unwavering determination, the Clubhouse became a reality.
“It's very personal to me,” she reflected, and said it was humbling to see her promise come to fruition.
The Clubhouse is, in her words, “a home away from home for people to come and get that break they need.”
It aims to alleviate the burden of dementia on both the person living with the illness and their carers, offering a few hours of respite and connection.
“The environment is there to support them, embrace them, and by knock-on effect to embrace and support the primary carer,” she said.
Through compassion, courage, and the promise from a daughter to her father, Ms Casey-Maloney has built more than a care centre, she’s built a home.
Ms Casey-Maloney, along with 21 other inspiring Mayo individuals and groups, will be honoured at the Mayo People of the Year Awards gala banquet in Breaffy House Hotel, Castlebar, on Friday, November 21.
This article has been funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.