Every Minute Is a Day by Robert Meyer, Dan Koeppel

Every Minute Is a Day

by Robert Meyer and Dan Koeppel

An urgent, on-the-scene account of chaos and compassion on the front lines of ground zero for Covid-19, from a senior doctor at New York City’s busiest emergency room
 
“Remarkable and inspiring . . . We’re lucky to have this vivid firsthand account.”—A. J. Jacobs, bestselling author of The Year of Living Biblically 

When former New York Times journalist Dan Koeppel texted his cousin Robert Meyer, a twenty-year veteran of the emergency room at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, at the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis in the United States, he expected to hear that things were hectic. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being overwhelmed, where do you think you are? Koeppel asked. Meyer’s grave reply—100—was merely the cusp of the crisis that would soon touch every part of the globe. 
 
In need of an outlet to process the trauma of his working life over the coming months, Meyer continued to update Koeppel with what he’d seen and whom he’d treated. The result is an intimate record of historic turmoil and grief from the perspective of a remarkably resilient ER doctor. Every Minute Is a Day takes us into a hospital ravaged by Covid-19 and is filled with the stories of promises made that may be impossible to keep, of life or death choices for patients and their families, and of selflessness on the part of medical professionals who put themselves at incalculable risk. 
 
As fast-paced and high-tempo as the ER in which it takes place, Every Minute Is a Day is at its core an incomparable firsthand account of unrelenting compassion, and a reminder that every human life deserves a chance to be saved.

Reviewed by annieb123 on

5 of 5 stars

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Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Every Minute Is a Day is an honest and well told memoir of an ER doctor and his experiences on the front lines of the pandemic. Released 3rd Aug 2021 by Crown Publishing, it's 256 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately.

This is a compelling, honestly written, and sobering look at life on the front lines for healthcare professionals during the early days of the pandemic. He discusses the bewilderment and frustration of supply and support scarcity, insecurity about how covid would develop, and burnout from stress and overwork. He also does a good job of explaining the finite resources they work with on a normal basis and how they have been stretched beyond the breaking point by the demands from the pandemic.

I work in healthcare in Northern Europe and although I'm not on the front lines (I work in a lab with zero patient contact), I certainly recognized many of the overwhelming feelings of doubt and fear he relates. How would we take care of the non-covid patients? How should we prioritize resources and treatment for people who don't have covid? How do we prevent covid patients from spreading infection to the healthcare staff and other non-covid patients? How can hospitals care for these patients without necessary supplies?

Five stars. This is not always a comfortable read, but I feel it's an important one.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 18 December, 2021: Finished reading
  • 18 December, 2021: Reviewed