ECHO HERON

GREETINGS AND WELCOME!

Yes, this is the dreaded 'About Me' page. However, complying with requests to supply the basics of my life, here's the short version of the Echo Heron Story:

After a leisurely ten-month gestation, I came into being along with a record number of other boomers. My given name, Echo Ruah Anne Elizabeth Philomena Salato Heron, is the result of The Great Name War which took place between my British/​Dutch mother and my Italian father. 'Ruah' was to honor the Mohawk woman reportedly thrown into the lineage mix.
I migrated to San Francisco during the Summer of Love where I traveled in some unique social and political circles. A day in the life might have included a chat with Benny Bufano over morning coffee, evacuate the office because of a bomb threat in the afternoon, attend a dinner with Mayors Alioto and Lindsey at Melvin Belli's apartment, head over to City Lights to hear Ferlinghetti read, then top off the night at Filmore West listening to Janice Joplin wail. It was an education in diversity to say the least.
Along the way I married, gave birth to my son, Simon, divorced and, in 1972 returned to college where I received my RN in 1977. For the next 18 years, I worked in critical care units, living out the experiences I would eventually write about in INTENSIVE CARE and CONDITION CRITICAL.
In 1983 Reader's Digest printed a story of mine, and, in 1985, I signed a contract with Antheneum to write an account of my life as a critical care nurse. In 1988, INTENSIVE CARE went on the New York Times bestseller list for eight weeks.
I gained a reputation in the popular media for having a straight-from-the-hip manner of delivering information about the politics of the American healthcare industry. Truth be told, being passionate about my subject was the only way I could overcome stage fright. Trust me on this: odd transformations take place in a normally shy person when facing a CNN camera lens or Oprah in the flesh.
In 1992, I left my position and moved to Montserrat, West Indies where I lived with my cat, Mooshie until we wearied of hurricanes, giant poisonous frogs, racial discrimination and iguana the size of washing machines. I currently live between Here and There. For the last four and one half years I have been fully engaged in researching a biographical/​historical novel.
If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to email me at: HeronWrite@​gmail.com