If you were lucky enough to be “in the room” with Dr. Mary Martha Felkner during her 25 years with Eastover Pediatrics, you know. If you haven’t, you’re in for a treat.
The lifelong Charlottean, now retired as a physician, has written a collection of essays entitled “In The Room,” turning her practice of journaling into a resource for physicians, parents and everyone in between.
Under her care for ear infections, strep throat and ADHD diagnoses, you learn that Dr. Felkner hasn’t just nurtured children but their parents. She is an advocate, a confidant, a teacher, and in her words, a translator.
She once got on the exam room floor and clapped her feet together to break through with a shy child, who not only opened up but kept coming back until he was a teenager.
“If there’s an adolescent who's shut down and there needs to be a bridge, I'm giving voice to that for the parent,” Felkner says. “Sometimes it's for the parent to the child.”
She weaves her appreciation for nature and fascination with language through stories about parenting and pet ownership, mindfulness and mental health and the limitations of science. She explains how time might be the greatest healer of all.
“There's no magic button,” Felkner says.
The writing is relatable, whether for Queens students, a book club, a yoga class, or a walk with a friend.
“I didn't want it to be about me,” Felkner says. “I wanted it to be about the reader. Hopefully through the words I know from my life, people actually reflect on their own.”
With "In the Room," Felkner challenges readers to reflect, dwell and ponder, which is a great way to make it last.
“I'm giving voice to the practice of healing, which can be done in medicine, in the room, or in the space of our own brains, in the room of your house.”