NEW BOOK EXPLORES CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY

Dr. Kathryn Kornegay has authored "Within Hospital Walls," a collection of short stories that explore chemical dependency and the recovery process associated with it.

Kornegay, associate professor of nursing at Southeast Missouri State University and a registered nurse, called the book "a departure from the norm."

"The short story format makes this an unconventional book," Kornegay said. "It's very much written as fiction, but it's focused on non-fiction conflicts, so people who read it are learning without even realizing it."

She said the book makes people examine their attitudes toward chemical dependency and those involved with it.

In writing the book, Kornegay said she took ideas from personal experience and vicariously from others' experience.

"The majority of these stories are real life examples, taken from 25 years of experience in the field of chemical dependency," she said.

Kornegay, who lives at Grassy, has been a certified chemical dependency nurse specialist since 1970.

Kornegay has spent 14 years recovering from chemical dependency.

She said having been both nurse and patient lends a unique perspective to her writing.

She said she went public with her history of dependency and recovery for the first time in this book.

"It was a hard decision, but I'm glad I did," she said.