This is a memoir of a time during the 1980s when the nurse practitioner Marianna Crane ran a clinic for senior citizens in the poor part of Chicago. The clinic is inside a CHA (senior housing) building and she and the people who work with her do more for the residents of the building above and beyond of what is required of them.

This book may sound as if it is the account of what happened in a public housing building in Chicago, but it is much more than that because in its details lie the complexity of caring for the elderly and how difficult it is for the caregivers that do not get adequate backing from the officials. In that sense, this book brings our attention to the societal needs of the elderly and the shortcomings of the industry of medical care.

In the beginning of the memoirs, being a stickler for the rules that Marianna learned during her training, she is at first shocked at the humane but lackadaisical approach of the people (Mary and Mattie) who were working there before her since they knew well the elderly living in the building and their circumstances. They are very good in bending the rules when it comes to helping the old people and respecting their wishes.

Many of the residents of the building are living alone, most of them away from or disconnected to their families, and they become prey to crooks or their family members who fool them to get what little income their pensions or social security pays. As Marianna works there, she too learns that rules don't always work for the best and her relationships with her co-workers improve greatly.

Marianna also has a problem in her private life that parallels the difficulties she faces at work. Her mother who has come to live with her and her family is a complicated person who is antagonistic and aggressive toward Marianna. Since Marianna fears the decline =of her relationship with her husband and two teenage children, she begins to look for a suitable place for her mother to settle and live alone.

In this setup, Marianna’s memoirs introduce the reader not only to the residents and patients in the building but also the doorman and other staff’s problems and their relationships to the author and other characters. This is where her writing shines because each characterization is written with a keen insight and acute observation, added to the compassion, empathy, and service that both Marianna and her co-workers provide. Although some of the writing sounds like case studies, the fragility of the patients is also highlighted as well as their heartbreaking endings, as well as a few successes, along the way.

I was drawn to this book because of its writer. I am not a nurse but nurses are my favorite people since they are intent in helping and providing the best care for their patients under all circumstances. That is why I picked up this book and I am really glad I read it because I am familiar with how vulnerable the elderly can be and how desperately good care with understanding and respect for the individuality of the patients are needed under any and all circumstances. Marianna certainly has brought these and other such points to light in her clear and straightforward narration that also emits a sense of humor, from time to time.

Marianna Crane is a gerontological nurse. In this memoir, she shares poignant stories from her time running a Senior Clinic for the underprivileged in Chicago.

I am partial to medical staff's memoirs. Having said that the experiences in this book contains things I never knew about. Plus, the writing is to the point and engaging.

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Created Nov 28, 2019 at 6:03pm • Submit your own review...