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Lois Hoitenga Roelofs

Born: 1942 in Chicago, Illinois
Pen Name: None

Connection to Illinois: Lois lives in Chicago, Illinois.

Biography: After “reading, eating, and sleeping nursing” for nearly forty years, Lois Roelofs now schedules her days around having fun – writing creative nonfiction, promoting Caring Lessons, taking classes of all kinds, going to concerts and plays, and volunteering for the Mental Health Ministry at her church.Lois is a Professor Emerita of Nursing at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois. Throughout her career she held positions in practice, education, research, and administration. She worked in hospitals, an HMO, and a steel mill, and taught in four nursing programs: Prairie State College in Chicago Heights, IL; Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, IL; Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, IN; and St. Xavier University in Chicago, IL. She earned a diploma in nursing from Blodgett Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, B.H.S. in Nursing Practice from Governors State University, and M.S. in Psychiatric Nursing/Ph.D. in Nursing Science from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Recently, she completed three years of the University of Chicago Basic Program of Liberal Education for Adults.It was near her retirement that she and a friend began discussing writing books about their nursing careers. With a lack of memoirs written by nursing professors describing their career paths, Lois found that her life story as an ordinary suburban sandbox mom who ended up teaching nursing and getting a PhD was needed. With a national shortage of registered nurses (over a half million projected by 2025) and a shortage of nursing faculty that causes nursing programs to turn qualified applicants away, Lois believes that Caring Lessons may encourage readers to think about becoming nurses and could also stimulate nurses to think about becoming teachers, both of which would address these critical shortages. She also believes that Caring Lessons will educate readers about mental illness and help reduce its stigma.


Awards:

Primary Literary Genre(s): Non-Fiction

Primary Audience(s): Adult readers

Email: Email:
Email: caringlessons@aol.com
Website: http://loisroelofs.com/
Lois Hoitenga Roelofs on WorldCat : http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=lois+hoitenga+roelofs


Selected Titles

Caring lessons :
ISBN: 9781935265375 OCLC: 606774008

Deep River Books, Sisters, Ore. : ©2010.

Imagine not wanting to be a nurse, teacher, or teacher of psychiatric nursing only to find yourself doing all three - and loving it! In Caring Lessons, Lois Roelofs tells her stories about being a rebellious ministers daughter, reluctant nurse, restless mom, perpetual student, and, eventually, fun-loving teacher. She used to tell her students that if she, an ordinary suburban sandbox mom, propelled by restlessness and prayer, could end up having a career, growing in faith, and getting a PhD, they could too. Roelofs brings the therapeutic use of self required in nursing to her writing. With a national shortage of registered nurses over a half million projected this decade and a shortage of nursing faculty that causes nursing programs to turn qualified applicants away, Caring Lessons will encourage readers to think about becoming nurses or stimulate nurses to think about becoming teachers, both of which would address these critical shortages. The main theme of the book is caring caring for others and caring for oneself.

 

 

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