Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
|
Loading... Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe: Four Weeks that Shaped a Pandemic (edition 2021)by Bonnie Dr. Henry (Author), Lynn Henry (Author)
Work InformationBe Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe: Four Weeks that Shaped a Pandemic by Dr. Bonnie Henry
None No current Talk conversations about this book.  pmarshall | May 30, 2021 |  no reviews | add a review
From the BC doctor who became an international celebrity for her handling of the pandemic, a personal account of the first weeks of COVID, and how the virus was brought under control, for readers of Sam Nutt's Damned Nations and James Maskayk's Life on the Ground Floor. NATIONAL BESTSELLER From the BC doctor who has become a household name for leading the response to the pandemic, a personal account of the first weeks of COVID, for readers of Sam Nutt's Damned Nations and James Maskalyk's Life on the Ground Floor. Dr. Bonnie Henry has been called "one of the most effective public health figures in the world" by The New York Times. She has been called "a calming voice in a sea of coronavirus madness," and "our hero" in national newspapers. But in the waning days of 2019, when the first rumours of a strange respiratory ailment in Wuhan, China began to trickle into her office in British Columbia, these accolades lay in a barely imaginable future. Only weeks later, the whole world would look back on the previous year with the kind of nostalgia usually reserved for the distant past. With a staggering suddenness, our livelihoods, our closest relationships, our habits and our homes had all been transformed. In a moment when half-truths threatened to drown out the truth, when recklessness all too often exposed those around us to very real danger, and when it was difficult to tell paranoia from healthy respect for an invisible threat, Dr. Henry's transparency, humility, and humanity became a beacon for millions of Canadians. And her trademark enjoinder to be kind, be calm, and be safe became words for us all to live by. Coincidentally, Dr. Henry's sister, Lynn, arrived in BC for a long-planned visit on March 12, just as the virus revealed itself as a pandemic. For the four ensuing weeks, Lynn had rare insight into the whirlwind of Bonnie's daily life, with its moments of agony and gravity as well as its occasional episodes of levity and grace. Both a global story and a family story, Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe combines Lynn's observations and knowledge of Bonnie's personal and professional background with Bonnie's recollections of how and why decisions were made, to tell in a vivid way the dramatic tale of the four weeks that changed all our lives. Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe is about communication, leadership, and public trust; about the balance between politics and policy; and, at heart, about what and who we value, as individuals and a society. The authors' advance from the publisher has been donated to charities with a focus on alleviating communities hit particularly hard by the pandemic- True North Aidwith its Covid-19 response in Northern Indigenous communities, andFirst Book Canada, with its focus on reading and literacy for underserved, marginalized youth. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNonePopular covers
 Google Books — Loading...GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)362.1092Social sciences Social problems & social services Social problems of and services to groups of people People with physical illnesses History, geographic treatment, biography BiographyRatingAverage: (3.75)
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Wikipedia in English
2
Dr. Bonnie Henry is the Provincial Health Officer for the Province of British Columbia, Canada. She consults with the Minister and Deputy Minister of Health and an assortment of community, provincial, national and international groups but is solely responsible for making the rulings that govern public health in the province. Her’s is not a political appointment.
The book covers in detail the development of her planned public health response for the province of British Columbia in dealing with the pandemic. I remember watching her news briefings from that time and how impressed I was with the way she presented detailed information to the public in a calm, straightforward manner. She has the ability to make hard decisions knowing how they will impact individuals but does so because they have to be done. Each statistic she reports is a person, not a number. She has become an hero for many in B. C. The title “Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe” comes from one of the mantras she repeats. Another is “It’s Not Forever, But It Is For Now.”
She opens a part of her life to the public. Just after closing down a variety of services, including hair salons she realized it is time for a cut and colour. She knows her hairdresser would go to her home but she also knows she can’t ask her to do so. Instead the hairdresser drops off some products and directions and she and her sister, Lynn do her hair. Following her next weekly televised press conference comments start circulating about her hair. So on the next Friday she tells the story of her hair, admitting neither she or her sister would be good hairdressers.
I found the book interesting but it could have been edited to make it easier to read. I found it dense, particularly in the prologue which was full of acronyms referring to public health organizations and national and international groups set up to deal with COVID-19, which were unnecessary as they weren’t used in the rest of the book. Because of her work with her team the province handled the first wave well and if the book continued it would show the preparations continued to hold.
If you live elsewhere this book will provide you with one government’s approach to dealing with COVID-19. If you somehow missed the beginning, how it developed in Wuhan, China and spread across the world this book might interest you. In Canada the Chief Public Health Officer of each province was the key person but each province dealt with it differently, although there was an exchange of information. The role of the Federal Government is with overarching matters, the closure of the border with the United States for example.
It amazes me that Dr. Henry found the time to write this book!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Reviewed May 30, 2021 (