Slow Walk to the Phone

About the Book

“Slow walk to the phone” is an expression used by older nurses as a sarcastic reaction to certain patients who are for full active resuscitation. Such gallows humor has not gone unnoticed in these short stories, spanning three decades. The book also features the joy of connection and the marvel at resilience. It starts at the Mater Hospital in Brisbane in 1979 and weaves its way until 2019 through other hospitals and homes in Victoria, South Australia, and New South Wales. There are over thirty essays, remembering situations and characters in their homes and their conversations and the nurses who helped make it easier. Grieving for strangers and mothers, not coping at work and after work, and dealing with the tragic farce of restructure are just some of the issues nurses face every day. Some pieces are derived from the freefall writing technique, a concept refined by Canadian writer/teacher Barbara Turner-Vesselago in her book Writing Without a Parachute: The Art of Freefall. This is Mary’s first book.

About the Author

Mary is a Registered Nurse with thirty years experience in Emergency wards, hospitals, aged care and community nursing. It was her discovery of a writing technique called "Freefall" which drew on her subconscious and changed her wounds into words. A former ABC radio broadcaster in the 1990's, Mary has always been drawn to stories. "Looking back, all my stories have been shaped by why I was and whom I was." Her profound experience giving evidence at the Royal Commission into Institutional Abuse has buoyed her to teach others to write in particular ways when faced with a traumatic memory. "Ironically, out of tragedy has come something beautiful for me. Now my words have credence." Mary lives with her partner Laurie - near Sawtell in the Mid North Coast of N.S.W. where she loves community nursing and is a teacher as well.