The pandemic era provided the world many types of stories that have not been seen in generations, at least since the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918. Healthcare workers and governmental leaders had the most stress refracted their way. Jahangir, a colleague and trauma surgeon at Vanderbilt Medical Center and chair of the board of health in Metro Nashville, served in both roles. What was naively thought to last perhaps only weeks or even a few months turned into a multi-year affair. In this diary with significant commentary added later, he eloquently shares his doctor’s perspective in leading the people of Nashville.
Like many American public health officials in the pandemic, Jahangir encountered a great deal of social conflict. Interestingly with no formal training in public health, he grew by trials into a leader. He dealt with a public eager to “get back to normal,” a business community concerned about keeping doors open, a school community with its own myriad of challenges, a red-state government with a blue town, not to mention racial tensions and inequities.
He seems to have dealt with these relatively well. Like any leader, he might now see some of his steps as the product of overreaction or being underprepared. Nonetheless, his integrity, values, and personal life seem to have remained in tact. He particularly highlights the role of HBCU Meharry Medical College in Nashville’s response – a story and example that needs to be heard more widely.
I personally love hearing medical dramas. I love how personal lives become intertwined with patient stories. Instead of dealing with patients, this story deals with a large, diverse group of people. And instead of being fiction, this is a real story that present-day people lived through. Being factual, it does touch on explicitly political and social themes that may be controversial to some. But it provides an honest account of one leader’s and doctor’s experience in a large town. I couldn’t put it down, and I flew through this accessible book in two days. It will inform generations to come of what modern pandemic life is like; as important, it can also inform us about human nature and ourselves – how we can grow from adversity and social unrest.
Hot Spot: A Doctor’s Diary from the Pandemic
By Alex Jahangir with Katie Seigenthaler
Copyright (c) 2022
Vanderbilt University Press
ISBN13 9780826505064
Page Count: 200
Genre: Memoir, Healthcare
www.amazon.com