Two Donegal doctors who volunteer with CRITICAL, the emergency medical response charity, have been honoured at the inaugural Ireland Blue Light Awards 2026. Dr Gerry Lane and Dr Jack Collins were joint winners of the Blue Light Unsung Hero Award.
The awards, which honour members of the emergency services across the country, were held at a gala ceremony at the Clayton Hotel Burlington Road, Dublin, last Saturday, August 15th.
CRITICAL’s mission is to save lives through its growing network of volunteer emergency medical responders. The Limerick-headquartered charity has more than 300 responders active across Ireland who are alerted to life-threatening emergencies by the National Ambulance Service.
Dr Gerry Lane is a retired Emergency Medicine Consultant with nearly 40 years of experience in emergency care. Dr Jack Collins is a Consultant Anaesthesiologist. They are both based in Donegal and have emergency response vehicles with specialist medical equipment provided by CRITICAL. They are alerted to the sickest and most seriously injured patients and have responded to more than 100 emergencies during the first six months of this year.
Speaking about winning the Blue Light Unsung Hero Award, Dr Lane said: “It is a privilege to volunteer with CRITICAL and to help with emergencies in the local community whenever we are needed. To be awarded the Blue Light Unsung Hero is an absolute honour that I am delighted to accept and I would like to pay tribute to all of the CRITICAL volunteers around the country who are giving of their time, day and night.”
Dr Collins added: “The Blue Light Awards recognise the efforts of all emergency services so to be given this honour is great, not only for Dr Lane and I, but everyone at CRITICAL charity. Everyone is a volunteer because they want to give back to the local community and to get national recognition like this highlights how important the service is.”
CRITICAL was also named as a finalist in the Blue Light Voluntary Service of the Year category.
David Tighe, CEO of CRITICAL charity said, “We are extremely proud of Dr Gerry Lane and Dr Jack Collins and they truly deserve this award for the time and effort they give as volunteers to CRITICAL. We really appreciate their efforts and indeed the efforts of all our volunteers who give their time and expertise, helping people at some of the worst moments of their lives.”