Immediate Release
RETIRED RALEIGH GERONTOLOGICAL NURSE PRACTITIONER’S IMPORTANT MEMOIR OFFERS LESSONS FOR TODAY
Retired nurse practitioner and Raleigh resident Marianna Crane’s memoir, Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic: A Nurse Practitioner Remembers, has earned kudos for its depiction of the early days of gerontological nursing. Windy City Reviews called the book “important” and Kirkus Reviews praised it for being “thoughtful and compelling.” Released by She Writes Press this month, the memoir has been heralded for the valuable insight it brings to understanding the complex web of care required still today for this vulnerable population.
Crane celebrates publication with events at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill on November 11th at 2 pm, at Two Sisters Bookery in Wilmington on November 17th at 7 pm, and at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh on December 5th at 7 pm.
Crane loved her job working in one of the country’s first programs in gerontology. She felt a connection to her patients and valued her role in their care. But when she herself was not valued for her work, Crane decided to make a change and accepted a position coordinating a clinic that cared for poor, underserved elderly and which was located on the tenth floor of a Chicago Housing high-rise.
Crane knew how to be a nurse, but what she didn’t know, and what her memoir so movingly recounts, is how much beyond her role as a nurse practitioner was required to assist older patients. She found herself planning a funeral, exposing relatives preying on the vulnerable, and hauling a mattress up the elevator. Also, she learned to offer medical care in people’s apartments even when people would not seek it —because care was needed. Most importantly, she learned how significant teamwork is in working with this population.
In Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic: A Nurse Practitioner Remembers, Crane offers readers a compassionate and insightful look into the world of nursing but even more so, she offers readers stories about endearing people, stories that remind us all what it means to human.
Long an advocate for the importance for recognizing the invaluable work nurses perform, Crane uses her memoir to give readers a greater understanding of what nurses/nurse practitioners do each day, a perspective that she hopes will increase understanding of the nursing profession.
MARIANNA CRANE became one of the first gerontological nurse practitioners in the early 1980s. A nurse for more than forty years, she has worked in hospitals, clinics, home care, and hospice settings. She writes to educate the public about what nurses really do. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Eno River Literary Journal, Examined Life Journal, Hospital Drive, Stories That Need to be Told: A Tulip Tree Anthology, and Pulse: Voices from the Heart of Medicine. She earned her Diploma in Nursing from Saint Peter’s School of Nursing; her Bachelor of Health Sciences at Governors State University; and her Master of Science in Public Health Nursing at University of Illinois at Chicago. Crane lives with her husband in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is a member of the North Carolina Writers Network. Find her online at https://nursingstories.org/.
She Writes Press is part of SparkPoint Studio, LLC.
PRAISE for
Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic:
“…an important memoir detailing the complex needs of an aging population…”
—Windy City Reviews
“In this thoughtful and compelling memoir, Crane’s keen eye for detail brings her stories, by turns heartbreaking and humorous, to life on the page. . . . Crane’s passion for helping others is obvious even as she struggles to figure out the best way to do that. An honest, compassionate look at what it takes to care for some of America’s most vulnerable citizens.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Marianna Crane writes with compassion and insight about what it’s like to serve on the front lines of the medical profession—treating the most vulnerable among us. Her vivid account is moving and enlightening, a valuable contribution to the literature of social justice.”—Philip Gerard, Professor, Department of Creative Writing, University of North Carolina, and author of The Art of Creative Research
“The book is a case study on how nursing is so much more than caring for a patient’s medical needs. Nurses care for the whole patient including all of their medical, physical, mental, emotional and social needs. Being a nurse myself, I really enjoyed reading this book and getting to know glimpses of the patients she saw in the clinic. This was a quick and easy read and really reminded me that we have such an impact on our patients’ lives long after we stop caring for them. I would recommend this book to any nurse or human-being who enjoys reading about human relationships and the bonds we form with one another.”—Nerdy Book Nurse
“Crane truly is an inspiration . . . Readers will see her compassion, heartache and ability to admit her mistakes in her emotional writing . . . I highly recommend Stories from the Tenth Floor Clinic by Marianna Crane to all families, caretakers and those who work with the elderly.”—Reader Views
“Nurse practitioners are well known for their willingness to be primary care providers for the ‘underserved’ . . . Society prefers that such patients remain invisible, because acknowledging their existence is too unsettling. It is my fervent hope that Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic will find a wide audience of readers who are willing to meet and care about the people nurse practitioners allow into their lives every day.”—Marie Lindsey, PhD, FNP, health care consultant and founding member and first president of the Illinois Society for Advanced Practice Nurse
“ . . . poignant and compelling . . . With empathy, compassion and wit Crane makes an important contribution to the literature of a frail population. We, who research these folks, are indebted to the author for her insights and unvarnished truth.” —Peter J. Stein, Ph.D. former Associate Director, Aging Workforce Initiatives, University of North Carolina Institute on Aging
RE: Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic: A Nurse Practitioner Remembers
By Marianna Crane
She Writes Press
Publication Date: November 6, 2018; Memoir: ISBN 978-1-63152-445-5; 5.5 x 8.5; Trade paperback; $16.95 U.S.; 212 pages
E-book ISBN 978-1-63152-446-2, $9.95
Part of the proceeds of the sales of this book will go to Erie Family Health Centers
For more information, please contact:
Caitlin Hamilton Summie, President
Caitlin Hamilton Marketing & Publicity, LLC
Phone/Fax: 865-675-3776
caitlin@caitlinhamiltonmarketing.com
