Listowel Workhouse

Greetings from Florida-  I've been able to trace my family back to Listowel.  According to the Superintendent Registrar's District Death Register, my great-great grandmother died of stomach cancer in JUL 1880 at the Listowel Workhouse.  Can anyone explain why she might have been there?  Was it for the poor? Was it a paying job? Did she go there instead of a hospital?  I'm not sure I'm picturing what went on in the Workhouse back them.  

I truly appreciate any insight into her being there.  Are there any records from there?  Attatched is the record of death for her, Mary Fitzgerald .
Missy