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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER by Thomas Fisher | Book Review
Dr. Thomas Fisher is an emergency room doctor working on the South Side of Chicago when the city is suddenly locked down as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. He has seen firsthand how our country's healthcare system treats many as second-class citizens.
I really love that Fisher interrupts the narrative of his days to write letters to his various patients. They are vulnerable and beautifully written.
In his letters, Fisher explores why many Black and poor people are not offered the same level of care available to those (mostly white) with private insurance. He goes one step further, by including not only the pandemic but also the protests for racial justice that took place across the city of Chicago that summer.
I listened to this one on audiobook, which Fisher reads himself. Listening to his voice made everything - especially the letters - feel so much more empathetic and impactful.
Overall, I like this one. I laughed. I cried. It moved me.
Dr. Thomas Fisher is an emergency room doctor working on the South Side of Chicago when the city is suddenly locked down as a reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic. He has seen firsthand how our country's healthcare system treats many as second-class citizens.
I really love that Fisher interrupts the narrative of his days to write letters to his various patients. They are vulnerable and beautifully written.
In his letters, Fisher explores why many Black and poor people are not offered the same level of care available to those (mostly white) with private insurance. He goes one step further, by including not only the pandemic but also the protests for racial justice that took place across the city of Chicago that summer.
I listened to this one on audiobook, which Fisher reads himself. Listening to his voice made everything - especially the letters - feel so much more empathetic and impactful.
Overall, I like this one. I laughed. I cried. It moved me.
This emergency room doctor is a hero. I’m not one to read books about medicine, descriptions of bodily trauma, or the emergency room. However, I cannot pass up a book a about Chicago’s south side. This book is something everyone should read. You learn about the gut wrenching decisions ER doctors make and how this particular doctor, south side born and raised, humbly acknowledges how he wishes he could do better in an impossible role. He writes letters to his patients and colleagues explaining some his reasoning while facing the harsh reality which is that some of these reasons still steal lives all too young. I really enjoyed learning about the stories of all his different patients-all whom he spends a mere 3 minutes with each due to high ER wait times.
You also read about the inequitable healthcare system black and brown bodies are forced to navigate. I learned quite a bit about the ACA healthcare reform as well as the massive cracks in the current system that men with business degrees purposefully deepen to make enormous profits at the sacrifice of those in poverty.
Lastly, I learned more about my city and the disenfranchised areas I often avoid. The families and communities that often only survive because of each other. And sometimes don’t survive because of the countless intersecting systems that intentionally work against them. Systemic racism is prevalent and ingrained medicine. The circular nature between disease, disregard, and demise is glaring.
Beautifully written, raw, and hopeful-one of the best non fiction books I’ve read in 2022.
You also read about the inequitable healthcare system black and brown bodies are forced to navigate. I learned quite a bit about the ACA healthcare reform as well as the massive cracks in the current system that men with business degrees purposefully deepen to make enormous profits at the sacrifice of those in poverty.
Lastly, I learned more about my city and the disenfranchised areas I often avoid. The families and communities that often only survive because of each other. And sometimes don’t survive because of the countless intersecting systems that intentionally work against them. Systemic racism is prevalent and ingrained medicine. The circular nature between disease, disregard, and demise is glaring.
Beautifully written, raw, and hopeful-one of the best non fiction books I’ve read in 2022.
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
I loved this book! It was a powerful and deep book about one doctors struggle to work during the COVID-19 pandemic. At first I wasn’t sure about the format of including letters, but these letters were powerful end education. Overall I really enjoyed how it showed economic, social, and medical inequalities in an easily understandable way so that no matter who picked up this book, they’d understand where the author was coming from.
emotional
informative
reflective
fast-paced
This is a heavy but important read, especially in the context of Ontario’s current health crisis and our progression to privatized healthcare.
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Thomas Fisher wears many hats in his new book, The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER. He’s a writer, physician, and commentator. All in all, he blends the various roles well and creates a compelling narrative. But I found it more contemplative than pulse-pounding overall.
Part of the reason for the two distinct tones is Fisher’s chapter structure. Half of the chapters are a straightforward chronological narrative of an ER doctor’s days and nights during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A full review is available on my book blog, TheBibliophage.com.
Part of the reason for the two distinct tones is Fisher’s chapter structure. Half of the chapters are a straightforward chronological narrative of an ER doctor’s days and nights during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A full review is available on my book blog, TheBibliophage.com.
The Emergency: A Year of Healing and Heartbreak in a Chicago ER is a memoir about the year in the life of an emergency room doctor on the South Side of Chicago. Set primarily during COVID, this is a very compelling book, not only because of the stories the author tells about the patients he encounters and about his experience as an emergency room doctor during the pandemic, but also because of his reflections on the intersection between health care and social justice. He explores how our country's healthcare system has repeatedly left behind the most vulnerable people in our society. I highly recommend this read. Through his memoir, the author paints a unique and moving picture of the harrowing experience of a health care provider during a scary time, the lives of the people he touched, and the need for health care reform.
informative
reflective
fast-paced
Every other chapter is a letter “to” one of Dr. Fisher’s patients. It felt a little gimickey, but it was otherwise very interesting
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced