The part of Jennifer Culkin that writes does not exist separately from the part that helps care for patients.

“They do intertwine,” she said. “And what’s interesting is, now that I’ve written the book, they mesh. There was a time in my life when I viewed them as quite separate.”

Culkin, who spent years aboard a helicopter as a flight nurse, has journaled throughout her career. At a certain point, her musings on life, death, work crystalized into a cohesive whole, “A Final Arc of Sky,” published this month.

The collection won the 2008 Rona Jaffe award for emerging women writers; she’ll present it at 3 p.m. May 3 at Eagle Harbor Book Co. And perhaps, through reading, experience again the similarities between her two chosen paths.

“Generally speaking, I go in and try to really engage with people. And I do the best I can, minute to minute. It is a minute to minute thing.”