COVID-19 Frontliners: Against All Odds

by Samantha Phillips, Dan Gustafson, Maricia Chavez

This book holds the stories of nine nurses from across the United States, who volunteered to work in New York City hospitals during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. These nurses left their ordinary lives behind to fly on empty planes to a city overwhelmed by a plague. Thrust onto the coronavirus wards, they saw and did incredible things. Faced with adversity they put patients’ lives before their own, working tirelessly day after day in unimaginable conditions. These first-hand accounts provide a powerful look at what it was really like on the front lines of health care during a global pandemic. The stories these nurses have are crucial to share with the world. This should never happen again.

326 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 17, 2020

Reviews

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book is the incredible story of 9 nurses who left their homes and families around the US to serve with crisis nursing in the hotspot of NYC in April 2020. These nurses were willingly thrown into chaotic and tragic environments of overwhelmed hospitals without sufficient resources or assistance, yet they served with compassion and perseverance despite the odds against them and their patients. Their courage to run toward the needs of our country at great risk to themselves is inspiring and truly remarkable. Through their voices I sense their exhaustion from endless hours of work, hear their frustration with the lack of supplies, feel their heartbreak in losing patients, and cheer on their relentless determination to provide care for their patients. This is a historical primary source of our pandemic.

[Ellen Rosenberger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow, what powerful and gripping stories. Many of us cannot fathom the chaos, stress, despair, death, and fear that occurred in NYC hospitals. This book was like watching a movie - so saddening to think these things really happened. It was also maddening to hear of the hoarding of PPE, difficulty in communication between hospitals, nurses, and crisis agencies, lack of supplies and preparedness for a crisis like this at hospitals. This book gave me a greater appreciation for our health care workers and an awareness of the corruption and focus on money that there is our healthcare system. May we recognize that it's broken and work to improve it - for the care and safety of patients and health care providers. One thing that was disappointing about this book was the incredible amount of typos and grammatical errors - many times several on a page. That was distracting and disheartening to me. It did not seem to have been edited at all. I understand that in our day and age we want to get information and stories out as soon as possible but I think it would have been better for the nurses to have taken the time to get the book edited well or perhaps to have an author document their stories for them.

[Teresa Brasher · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fellow nurse's perspective...

What an incredible, horrific, and touching account of some of the many selfless medical professionals who sacrificed so much in the service of the sick and dying during an unprecedented time. The compassion they showed to their patients and co-workers renews my faith in the goodness of people. Their stories are honest and raw, and truly portray the reality of frontline workers during the peak of COVID 19. They gave so much of themselves, even sometimes their own lives, none of which should be taken for granted.
The only issue with this book is the editing, which is amateur, at best. If poor editing is an issue for future readers, at least give this book a chance. The messages here are worth muddling through poor grammar in order to experience the quality of care that should be standard, not just crisis-based, in American healthcare.

[Teresa Lavoie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book helps every day man to see the true essence of the skilled staff to care for these ill people.The nurses that reported for duty in New York City will be forever changed by their experience.

[Sam Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic book from a collection of nurses about the horror and hope working the frontlines of NYC during March and April of this year. Highly entertaining and impossible to set down.