The Scope E-Newsletter March 2010 JAMA Publishes Poem by Preston Library's Donna Doyle

"Stroke," a poem by Donna Doyle, Consumer and Patient Health Information Specialist and Evening Supervisor in Preston Medical Library, was published in the February 24 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association's Poetry and Medicine column. Doyle, also a creative writer, wrote the poem in response to her husband's June 2009 stroke. According to Poet's Market, JAMA receives approximately 750 poems per year and accepts only 7 percent.

In accepting the poem, JAMA's associate editor, Charlene Breedlove, stated in a letter, "The poem brilliantly defines some uses of the word stroke before delivering readers to its final and fateful likenesses. I know readers will appreciate, as I do, the subtle shaping of alternatives and the way the felt reality is finally delivered."

Doyle has worked for the University of Tennessee for 22 years and came to Preston Medical Library in September 2008 with an interest in the Consumer and Patient Health Information Service. She became a certified Consumer and Patient Health Information Specialist in December 2008 and said her goal is to actively and empathetically listen to every consumer. Doyle has received several awards for her poetry, and her manuscript, "Heading Home," was recently selected as a finalist in Finishing Line Press's New Women's Voices competition.

Read "Stroke" online or contact Donna Doyle for more information.