Doctor writes book about early months of COVID-19 for medical workers

The book 'Every Minute is A Day' outlines the hardships of the beginning of the pandemic for medical workers.

News 12 Staff

Aug 31, 2021, 12:47 PM

Updated 1,156 days ago

Share:

The difficulties of the pandemic hit everyone hard, but few were hit harder than medical workers during the start of COVID-19.
“I’ve seen everything there is to see in emergency medicine” said Dr. Robert Meyer, author of ‘Every Minute is A Day.’ “But nothing, nothing will ever compare to those weeks in the spring of 2020.”
The book focuses on weeks that Dr. Meyer, a 20-year veteran of Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, describes as "the apocalypse" He co-wrote the book with his cousin, Dan Koeppel, of the New York Times.
The book details the early months of the pandemic through the eyes of the medical workers who lived it first-hand. And it all started when Koeppel texted Meyer to see how he was doing.
"He said on a scale of 1 to 10 how bad is it? And I said, it's 100" said Meyer.
Montefiore was just one of many hospitals that got slammed in those early months by COVID-19 patients, but Dr. Meyer says there's one moment he'll never forget.
"We were notified that the nursing homes in our area, which there are many, were sending a very large number of patients all at the same time. And I went outside, I saw the line of ambulances and I broke down."
It's stories like this that Meyer says have resonated with people who read the book - especially his fellow medical workers.
"I cannot tell you how many people have come upon me and said, ‘Thank you. Thank you for being our voice. Thank you for letting me know I wasn't the only one crying in the shower at night.’"
Meyer hopes the book will serve as an example of how people supported one another during a time of crisis.
"The health care providers stepped up and did what needed to be done, compassionately, caringly, and with empathy."
'Every Minute is a Day' is available now wherever books are sold.