To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

Ecclesiastes 3:1

The purpose was clear, the plan precise, the promise was revealed, and indeed there is a time and season for everything.

In the early 1970s I was blessed to share in the vision and realization of a dream to improve the quality of emergency care provided to patients. The outcome of this vision was a commitment to excellence, the development of course work including core text, a certification program, and ultimately a book (Emergency Medicine) and a topical journal (Topics in Emergency Medicine).

Over the past 35 Years, the emergency care discipline has grown, flourished, and achieved new standards of excellence from that original vision. Now my vision and calling are being redirected from emergency care to the care, healing, and compassion for the least, the last, and the lost who have been incarcerated and forgotten.

Our country, with more than 600,000 individuals being released from prison each Year, has turned its back and its heart to those seeking to reclaim their place in the community, and to renew their lives. The challenge to help restore these individuals to good physical, emotional, and spiritual health and productive citizenship is an ambitious undertaking. However, it is this challenge that fuels the core of my new vision and journey.

Blessings and gratitude to all those who, over the past 31/2 decades, have contributed their expertise, research, time, and innovations to the field of emergency care. I would appreciate Your prayers, support, and encouragement as I embark on my new journey.

In gratitude and peace,

Carmen Germaine Warner, MSN, MAT, RN, FAAN

Editor, Topics in Emergency Medicine, 1977-2006, E-mail: [email protected]