Marijke Vroomen-Durning

Marijke Vroomen-Durning is a health and medical writer who has been actively involved with the Internet since the early 1990s. Her background as a registered nurse and mom to three now-adult children gave her a good understanding of how to communicate with the general public when discussing health issues. Born and raised in Montreal, Marijke still makes her home there and works with many clients from around the world. Marijke Vroomen Durning, nurse writer

Marijke has authored many articles, patient information documents, and website pieces, which explain everything from what causes certain illnesses to how to deal with emergencies.

Her blog, Marijke, Nurse Turned Writer, is a conversational blog that discusses medical and health issues that catch her eye. As part of her HON certification (Health on the Net), the blog is regularly monitored by the accrediting organization to ensure the facts are facts and that there is no bias or advertising.

One of her major writing clients is the organization Sepsis Alliance. Marijke is responsible for a significant part the website’s content, outreach, and social media presence. She is also the go-to person for finding news and information about sepsis as it appears throughout the Internet.

Marijke also was a major player in the Health sector of b5media blogs before they were folded. She was responsible for the content of Help My Hurt (on pain), Womb Within (pregnancy), Cancer Commentary, and then later on, Men’s Health, and Healthbolt. Her “write as she speaks” approach made her information easy to read and understand, which resulted in many devoted followers.

Montreal on the Cheap is a blog that is outside the realm of health –this is a good way to balance things out and keep her sane, Marijke says. MOTC is part of a network of On the Cheap blogs that span North America. Montreal’s tag line is Fun Doesn’t Have to Be Expensive. The blog provides Montrealers and visitors information about affordable and free activities in the area.

Books:

Marijke has worked on nursing and para-medical text books, and is currently working with a publisher who is condensing a critical care nursing text. But, she is not all about medicine. She has also written a picture book (for both adults and children) about her first greyhound, Oscar. Oscar’s Diaries, Life as a Retired Greyhound began as a series of forum posts over at Greytalk.com and ended up being a popular book.

As an essayist, she was published in an anthology called Fits, Starts & Matters of the Heart: 28 True Stories of Love, Loss & Everything in Between. She is only one of two Canadians who were selected to be in this book.

Her website, Medhealthwriter.com, has a good selection of articles on palliative and hospice care, one of Marijke’s passions. She plans on developing this further and putting together a book for the general public about death and dying – that it’s not necessarily a failure, but another part of life. Despite her vast experience in nursing, the area she enjoyed the most was palliative care. If you ask her about it, you just may not be able to stop her, so choose your time wisely. Oh, and sepsis. That’s another passion of hers.

Marijke’s Interests

  • Quilting (could be called bordering on obsession!)
  • Reading (has had a Kindle since Oct. 2010 and won’t let it out of her sight)
  • Travel (doesn’t do enough of it)
  • Knitting (getting back into it)
  • Greyhounds (the dogs, not the bus line)

You can follow Marijke at: