Every Minute Is a Day

A Doctor, an Emergency Room, and a City Under Siege

By: Robert Meyer MD, Dan Koeppel

Narrated by: Robert Meyer MD, 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.

An exquisitely written, important book.

The heartbreaking tale of great importance. I hope the powers-that-be read this book and take notes so that we are better prepared for the next pandemic, or even just the next routine appendectomy. My heart goes out to all of the healthcare workers, support staff, patients and their families.

story

like the true story of er life during covid and the truth doctors faced with the pandemic

The Authors

I love when the authors read their books. It makes the story more personal and you can feel the emotions through their words.

I am an Emergency Department nurse, and this story was real.

I am an Emergency Nurse and I was just across the river in Newark, NJ for the first wave of COVID-19. This book captured the emotion, the death, and the dying masterfully. Beyond the disaster, though, the authors captured the inspiring moments, the humanity, and the moments that gave the healthcare professionals hope.

Thoroughly enjoyable

I really enjoyed both the reading and the book! Great insight into what was happening on the front lines, told with empathy and real emotion for the patients.