Grover Nicodemus Street is one of the unsung heroes who witnessed Covid from the front lines. A travel nurse, he moved from one hot spot location to another as the United States was gripped with this deadly virus. From his first contact with a Covid positive patient, before it was deemed a danger to society and masks were not mandatory, to his own infection later in 2020 and the infection of his wife, a recovering cancer patient, this man met diversity and distress head-on. To complicate the issues of the day, he was also caught in the middle of a Black Lives Matter protest in New York, Florida storms, California wildfires, and so much more. As we all struggle to reconvene our lives post-Covid, his story is a tribute to all those who fought to save the afflicted.

Grover Nicodemus Street R.N., in collaboration with his wife, Sandra de Abreu Guidry-Street M.D., and his sister-in-law, Ja-ne de Abreu, wrote a compelling, compassionate frontline account of the Covid year. Their book, Chasing the Surge: Life as a Travel Nurse in a Global Pandemic, is an honest, sometimes raw account of the day-to-day life of the medical professionals who gave us all they had and more. Written as a daily journal entry, the account begins with an outline of the politics of Covid, beginning in January 2020. The author’s daily missive begins in New Jersey, March 2, 2020, and his first contact with the disease. Each entry is full of details of events, patients, family, happenings – some troubling, difficult, some happy, even humorous (like the family who smuggled a barbecue onto the hospital grounds and starting grilling outside the windows of the patients' rooms). The daily reflections are told with blunt honesty and weave a narrative of a year we all wish we could erase from our memories. Chasing the Surge concludes with shared stories written by friends and colleagues. So many moving stories about a difficult year. And the battle’s not over yet. Thank you for sharing your story, Grover.

Chasing the Surge: Life as a Travel Nurse in a Global Pandemic by Grover Nicodemus Street R.N., Sandra de Abreu Guidry-Street M.D., and Ja-ne de Abreu is a nonfiction memoir that addresses a contemporary and relevant theme: experiencing the pandemic as a travel nurse. Leaving behind his wife, Dr. Sandra de Abreu Guidry-Street, a breast-cancer survivor, Grover Nicodemus goes to the places that were hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The book takes readers from the early stages of the pandemic and follows the author as he journeyed along with the increasing number of infections to the hotspots of the pandemic — New Jersey, Colorado, Florida, California, New York, and other places. This book shares the experience and reserves stunning surprises for readers.

While this book captures the behind-the-scenes struggles of nurses as they face patients and expose themselves to the virus, it also captures the political moment with ingenuity, with references to the Black Lives Matter in New York. The historical elements include the author’s experience of the storms in Florida and the wild fires in California. This book captures the pain of a difficult moment in American history, and the author does an impeccable job with stories that portray the suffering and hardship of people while providing insights into dealing with the pandemic. The book is superbly written, the prose illuminating, and Grover Nicodemus Street R.N. meticulously analyzes the general reaction of the public to the pandemic. Chasing the Surge: Life as a Travel Nurse in a Global Pandemic is the story of a travel nurse, a tale of courage and sacrifice, which also explores the humanity of frontline medics, fighting to save lives and at times in the goriest of situations.

This book caught my interest at the very beginning and I could not put it down! It is an honest account of a travel nurse's experience starting in the beginning of the COVID pandemic when we had very little information on this public health crisis. His tale takes us throughout the year and his travels to all the hot spots of the surges interspersed with recuperations at home with his wife and all the social and political issues we are facing as a nation.

This gripping story is definitely a MUST READ!

Amazing story! I highly recommend this book for anyone to read.

I thought this could be a little cheesy and was pleasantly surprised. It was EXCELLENT and EXCITING. I've read nothing like it before.