‘Everybody Just Breathe’: A United Hospital nurse’s pandemic memoir

[Pioneer Press, July 23, 2022] Amanda Peterson wasn’t trying to write a COVID memoir. At first, the critical-care nurse at Allina Health United Hospital in St. Paul was writing as a form of self-care.

“Paper therapy,” she called it.

“Most entries were written in the parking garage of the hospital,” said Peterson, 39, of Hudson, Wis. “I was trying to get all the feels out before I had to do it all over again. Some were written on the back of my checkbook. It was just pouring out of me.”

The notes scribbled in the corners have now been transferred to pages: “Everybody Just Breathe: A COVID Nurse Memoir of Stamina and Swear Words” was published by Beaver’s Pond Press in March, providing a glimpse into the life of a COVID ICU nurse in the early days of the pandemic.

Read the full article online at www.twincities.com.