Bellevue Diary

From its founding 1736, Bellevue Hospital has been a dumping ground into which a city poured its poor, elderly, and dying. What makes the oldest hospital in the United States unique is that Bellevue is a place from which no one in need is turned away. Bellevue Diary is a collection of short stories borne out of Dr. Monif s year of internship that collectively pays tribute to this great hospital. Bellevue Diary is mosaic of short snippets of stories. Mosaics have to be near perfect to work. Ironically, this one comes close. What is surprising that it works on multiple levels: a historical characterization of a place and time and the impact of the Bellevue Hospital on a young physicians professional and spiritual growth into which is woven a thesis of deaths ultimate meaning. The pieces all come together to make this mosaic good reading. Peter Firchow, PhD Former Professor of English University of Minnesota