My Patients Were Presidents
BY DR. CONNIE MARIANO
ABOUT THE BOOK:
A riveting look into the personal lives of our presidents through the eyes of their White House doctor...
Dr. Connie Mariano served 9 years at the White House under Presidents George H.W. Bush, William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush. She participated in world headline-making news events and traveled all over the world. She cared for visiting dignitaries and was charged with caring for all the members of the First Family. From flirting with King Juan Carlos of Spain to spending the night on the Queen of England’s yacht, Dr. Mariano glimpsed a glittering and powerful celebrity that few ever see. White House Doctor is a fascinating look into what goes on behind closed doors at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
From applying a Band-Aid to George Bush Sr.’s golf blister to drawing Bill Clinton’s blood sample to match with the DNA of the infamous stain on Monica Lewinsky’s dress, Dr. Connie Mariano saw a side of our presidents’ lives few get to experience during her nine years as the White House doctor. Beginning with George H.W. Bush, Dr. Mariano then worked the entire eight years of Bill Clinton’s presidency and concluded during George W. Bush’s first term. In THE WHITE HOUSE DOCTOR: My Patients Were Presidents, Dr. Mariano recounts with grace, humor and passion what life was like caring for our presidents.
Glamour aside, being the White House doctor involved tremendous pressures, including:
- · Training with the Secret Service in case of an attack on the President including water rescue drills
- · Treating First Lady Hillary Clinton for a blood clot
- · Treating President Clinton’s mother during her battle with breast cancer
- · Caring for President Clinton when he injured his leg
- · Working inside the METU (Medical Evaluation and Treatment Unit) at Bethesda Naval Hospital, which is set up as a private ward just for the President and Vice President and is never used for anyone else
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Born in the Philippines to a Navy father and Filipina mother, Dr. Mariano traveled between military bases as part of an American military family. Throughout THE WHITE HOUSE DOCTOR, Dr. Mariano recalls having to fight stereotypes, even after becoming the Physician to the President, both against women and minorities. Painful as these times were, Dr. Mariano has achieved an impressive list of “firsts” during her career, which include: the first military woman to become the White House Physician to the President, the first woman Director of the White House Medical Unit, and the first Filipino American in U.S. history to become a Navy Rear Admiral.
Today, Dr. Mariano runs the renowned Center for Executive Medicine in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she lives. It is a medical concierge practice which provides presidential-quality medical care to CEOs and their families.
MY REVIEW:
I found THE WHITE HOUSE DOCTOR: My Patients Were Presidents by Dr. Connie Mariano to be a fascinating and eye-opening book that gives readers a rather unique look inside the White House and at our Commander-in-Chief. As head of the White House Medical Unit, Dr. Mariano, was in charge of an entire staff of doctors and nurses whose job it was to treat the First Family and visiting dignitaries. I never realized there was such a staff and position inside the White House and evidently, neither did Connie Mariano until she was offered the job.
Dr. Mariano, however, worked very hard to get to where she is today as the first Filipino American to become a Navy Rear Admiral and an important role model to many. In 1991, she was the Director of Internal Medicine at a naval hospital in San Diego and from there was nominated to serve a two-year term as White House physician, which turned out to be a nine year assignment. While this was certainly an honor, Eleanor Concepcion Mariano, Connie, took it as an important job and not a path to becoming famous and rich, as some might think of it. She worked very hard, often putting her job ahead of her own life including her marriage, her loved ones, and even her own health.
The memoir describes her nine years spent as the doctor for the “First Patient’ with Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. She relates many personal stories with each of the presidents. Dr. Mariano even traveled outside the country with the presidents as the doctor is with him at all times. The much read about Bethesda Naval Hospital and the private ward that is there just for the President and Vice President is explained. From yearly physicals to training for trauma care with the Secret Service, the book was fascinating to me. I never knew all this went on so got a great behind-the-scenes look at it all. Her recounting incidents like when then First Lady Barbara Bush fell on her last night in the White House and had to have stitches in her arm to treating another First Lady, Hillary Clinton, for a blood clot fill the book with interesting stories. Dr. Mariano even treated President Bill Clinton’s mother when she had breast cancer.
THE WHITE HOUSE doctor is written as a pleasing, easy to read narrative and filled with many memories of specific incidents with each President and their family as well as photographs throughout. President Bill Clinton is the one who not only promoted her to Navy Rear Admiral but also asked her to become his personal physician. Dr. Connie Mariano is now retired from the Navy and she has founded a practice that gives the same kind of care the President received to CEO’s and their families. It is called the Center for Executive Medicine and is in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Dr. Mariano, however, worked very hard to get to where she is today as the first Filipino American to become a Navy Rear Admiral and an important role model to many. In 1991, she was the Director of Internal Medicine at a naval hospital in San Diego and from there was nominated to serve a two-year term as White House physician, which turned out to be a nine year assignment. While this was certainly an honor, Eleanor Concepcion Mariano, Connie, took it as an important job and not a path to becoming famous and rich, as some might think of it. She worked very hard, often putting her job ahead of her own life including her marriage, her loved ones, and even her own health.
The memoir describes her nine years spent as the doctor for the “First Patient’ with Presidents George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. She relates many personal stories with each of the presidents. Dr. Mariano even traveled outside the country with the presidents as the doctor is with him at all times. The much read about Bethesda Naval Hospital and the private ward that is there just for the President and Vice President is explained. From yearly physicals to training for trauma care with the Secret Service, the book was fascinating to me. I never knew all this went on so got a great behind-the-scenes look at it all. Her recounting incidents like when then First Lady Barbara Bush fell on her last night in the White House and had to have stitches in her arm to treating another First Lady, Hillary Clinton, for a blood clot fill the book with interesting stories. Dr. Mariano even treated President Bill Clinton’s mother when she had breast cancer.
THE WHITE HOUSE doctor is written as a pleasing, easy to read narrative and filled with many memories of specific incidents with each President and their family as well as photographs throughout. President Bill Clinton is the one who not only promoted her to Navy Rear Admiral but also asked her to become his personal physician. Dr. Connie Mariano is now retired from the Navy and she has founded a practice that gives the same kind of care the President received to CEO’s and their families. It is called the Center for Executive Medicine and is in Scottsdale, Arizona.
GIVEAWAY
THANKS TO TRICIA AT MERYL L.
MOSS MEDIA RELATIONS, I HAVE
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