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Breaking Ground: the Daring Women of the YWCA in the Santa Clara Valley 1905-2005
Book by Fran Smith
147 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
6 people want to read
About the author
Fran Smith
2 books4 followersI am a writer, editor, writing coach, mother, Labradoodle owner, and tap dancer.
My new book, Changing the Way We Die, grew out of a conversation with my old friend and former newspaper colleague, Sheila Himmel. Our fathers had recently died -- hers in hospice care, mine in a hospital. We talked about the difference that hospice care can make. That set us on a nearly three-year journey to understand the experiences of people on the giving and the receiving ends of hospice care and the choices that patients and families can make to avoid needless suffering and live life until the end. Along the way we realized that engaging this topic does not have to be depressing. For us, it was uplifting. Even in the late stages of illness there are choices, and they come down to this: What do you want to do with the rest of your life?
I started my professional life as a newspaper reporter, mainly covering health. I then moved into magazine editing, writing coaching, and teaching science writing at U.C. Santa Cruz. For the past 10 years, I have been an independent writer, editor and communications consultant.
I have a bachelor degree from Cornell, a master's from U.C. Berkeley and I spent a glorious year as a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford. I live with my husband, daughter, and Labradoodle in New York.
My new book, Changing the Way We Die, grew out of a conversation with my old friend and former newspaper colleague, Sheila Himmel. Our fathers had recently died -- hers in hospice care, mine in a hospital. We talked about the difference that hospice care can make. That set us on a nearly three-year journey to understand the experiences of people on the giving and the receiving ends of hospice care and the choices that patients and families can make to avoid needless suffering and live life until the end. Along the way we realized that engaging this topic does not have to be depressing. For us, it was uplifting. Even in the late stages of illness there are choices, and they come down to this: What do you want to do with the rest of your life?
I started my professional life as a newspaper reporter, mainly covering health. I then moved into magazine editing, writing coaching, and teaching science writing at U.C. Santa Cruz. For the past 10 years, I have been an independent writer, editor and communications consultant.
I have a bachelor degree from Cornell, a master's from U.C. Berkeley and I spent a glorious year as a John S. Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford. I live with my husband, daughter, and Labradoodle in New York.
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