ECHO HERON

In this eloquent and dramatic sequel to Echo Heron's bestselling INTENSIVE CARE: THE STORY OF A NURSE, CONDITION CRITICAL covers the author's last decade as a nurse in the critical care units of a San Francisco Bay area hospital. This well-written account of her moving, tragic, and sometimes humorous experiences is guaranteed to take the reader on an unforgettable journey behind the closed doors of Critical Care and into the world of a nurse.

 

IN PRAISE OF CONDITION CRITICAL:

 "Critical care nurse Heron will make readers laugh and cry with this graphic, often shocking look at life in the trenches of an unidentified high-tech hospital in San Francisco...Heron writes with emotional intensity and sassy humor as she critiques the hospital's corner-cutting bureaucracy."     — Publishers Weekly

 "ENTERTAINING...gritty, behind-the-scenes details of hospital operations." — Booklist

"An UNCOMPROMISING and often visionary sequel to her bestseller, INTENSIVE CARE." — San Francisco Chronicle

 "In the prologue of this book, Echo Heron, RN, states: 'Nurses are able to do what they do because they are rich in the gifts of healing, compassion and love.' She then goes on to illustrate that statement with 18 chapters of amusing and moving true stories of her career in critical care and the emergency room." — Chicago Tribune

 "Heron gives her readers a graphic, eyewitness description of modern medicine from the front lines...vivid...heartbreaking." — Tacoma News Tribune

 "Heron frequently inspires laughter, tears, and awe through her vivid descriptions of a 'normal' workday. With keen sensibilities and wry expressiveness, she fleshes out brief patient vignettes in ways that haunt one's memory....At a time when healthcare is changing, euthanasia is in the public consciousness, and fear of hospital experience continues, Echo Heron's CONDITION CRITICAL opens the door on these and other topics with characteristic honesty, humor and passion." — Women's Magazine

 "A shocking tell-all about hospital procedures as witnessed through the eyes of a nurse."  — Library Journal

 "Heron gives a voice to her fellow nurses (a savvy, wisecracking, take-no-guff voice) and turns them into real people."  — Seattle Post-Intelligencer

MEDIA INFORMAION FOR

CONDITION CRITICAL: THE STORY OF A NURSE CONTINUES

 

Nonfiction/True Medicine/Autobiographical

1994 Fawcett
1995 Ivy/ Ballantine

REVISED AND REPUBLISHED 2014 /HERON QUILL PRESS
BESTSELLER LISTS:

San Francisco Chronicle
Waldenbooks
Literary Guild alternate selection
MAGAZINE EXCERPTS:

Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Ladies' Home Journal, Family Circle
FOREIGN RIGHTS: Britain, Austria, Slovakia
FILM OPTIONS: Telecom, Inc., Citadel Inc.
MEDIA TOURS (partial list): New York City, Boston, Albany, Washington DC, Toronto, Minneapolis, St. Paul, Kansas City, Dayton, Atlanta, Denver, Seattle, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, St. Louis, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco // National Public Radio - Washington D.C, CNN Nightline