Interview opportunities with Mark Bruce, D.O., F. A. C. E. P.
What a difference a couple of weeks can make. At the beginning of March, we were looking forward to March Madness, opening day for Major League Baseball, the Masters Golf Tournament, and the approaching NBA playoffs. That is just our sports expectations; there was also spring break, summer travel, and all kinds of warm weather get togethers, back yard BBQs, graduation parties, etc. Now, the kids are home indefinitely, next to mom and dad who are working from home, experiencing social distancing with but a few outside distractions except for the hourly COVID-19 updates. This is a time of re-orientation of lifestyle and an opportunity to rediscover lost pleasures like reading a great book.
Dr. Mark Bruce has been on the front lines dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic, as a clinically engaged specialist in emergency medicine. Dr. Bruce has spent his 40-year career in this way, with a significant portfolio in leading medical relief teams into Asian Disaster Zones. The timing of the publication date of his book, Jackie, A Boy, and A Dog: A Warm Cold War Story coincides with the current Pandemic. Dr. Bruce has spoken to the media extensively on COVID-19 and also about his book.
Q&A:
- The world is anxious about the pandemic; what is the connection between your book and the pandemic we are in the middle of?
ANSWER: I was in Asia during the SARS epidemic and saw the anxiety and panic that it generated. Fortunately, SARS did not become a pandemic, but was contained within Asia. The first rule of an epidemic is to protect the uninfected; that is what keeps an epidemic from becoming a pandemic; once there is pandemic, this same rule allows it to be contained. These are scary topics, and naturally created anxiety. My book can be a soothing balm, and blessing in these times.
- How so? What is it about Jackie, A Boy, and A Dog: A Warm Cold War Story that can help calm anxious people.
ANSWER: It is a great story about history, the most iconic woman of the 20th century, an innocent young boy needing a dog—ultimately given to him by the First Lady who heard about his situation. There is great entertainment and educational value for readers of all ages, but there is deeper meaning too.
- What is the entertainment and educational value?
ANSWER: When we are being surrounded by a 24-7 news-cycle about COVID-19, as important and relevant as it is, a “pause” and distraction is welcomed, and a mental health boost. This is an entertaining story with a tremendous amount of history interwoven throughout. The events of the “cold war” and tension between the Soviet Union (USSR) prior to its dissolution, and the United States are not taught in schools today. Also, the beginnings of the “space race” are unknown to gen-Xers through the millennials. Baby boomers have a faint recollection of these things, but it is etched into the memories of the “greatest generation”. It is an important part of our heritage.
- What is the deeper meaning that you referred to?
ANSWER: This story is not just entertaining and education, but an illustrative tale of hope and God’s grace, born out of chaos.
- Can you elaborate on that?
ANSWER: We find ourselves today in what seems to be chaos with so many things about the COVID-19 pandemic changing hourly. So it was in my life when tragedy struck, and I was left with a personal void, feeling disoriented. My life was turned upside down, and I felt that my life was in chaos. I was grieving, and mourning the loss of my dog, and feeling tremendous guilt that I had caused her death. From the depths of my despair, through divine intervention, I reached out to the most powerful family in the world, President and Mrs. Kennedy. I had hope that they would hear my plea; they did, and acting as an instrument of God’s grace, even in the midst of their own tragedies, went beyond my request, and nurtured a relationship of several decades that equipped me to be an instrument of God’s grace to the many lives that I have touched through my international medical work.
This same grace is available to all of us, and allows us to minister to those around us in their time of need, to be a blessing to others by putting our individual giftedness at God’s disposal, and allowing Him to use us as He sees fit. The results can be nothing short of amazing.
- How can people get Jackie, A Boy, and A Dog: A Warm Cold War Story?
ANSWER: The book is available at any bookstore. If not in stock, they can order it for you. Or it can be ordered directly from the book website: JackieBoyDog.com which has a sample chapter for review, multiple media links, and a store to purchase the book. I enjoy signing books ordered from the website, and there is a place (click “buy the book”, then click “get a personalized version from me”) to request a personalized inscription at purchase. Amazon, Barnes & Noble are also linked up on the website if people prefer to order from them.
Dr. Mark Bruce is an emergency room physician and the Ambassador to Belize and Canada for the American College of Emergency Physicians. His most recent book is ‘Jackie, a Boy and a Dog: A Warm Cold War Story’, about how First Lady Jackie Kennedy gave him a puppy when his dog died.
