COVID-19 Book Project

In late 2020, I was asked to come up with ideas on how to improve the morale of employees who were struggling under the weight of the pandemic.  I had been creating photos on the frontlines for months and not much was being done with them.  So one of the ideas I thought of was to use those photos to create a keepsake book, and distribute them to employees as a gift to help them remember this strange time in their lives.  My ideas were submitted to the CEO and after creating a mock up in Adobe Lightroom Classic, he greenlit the project and a rough budget.  I was given a very short deadline of distributing the books by Thanksgiving, a little over a month away.

I had never created a book before and there were a lot of hurdles.  Since no one in my department had ever made a book from scratch, I had a lot to learn.  I leaned heavily on Lightroom to redesign a real layout based on my concept with room for photos and text.  Working with one of our writers, we were able to figure out how to lay out the sections in a way that made more sense than how I had it.  I worked with two of our existing publishers to figure out printing and distribution (and conversion of my design from Lightroom to InDesign).  I made decisions regarding paper size and weight, page count and how the layout “felt”.  I added sections to help flesh out the COVID-19 journey up to that point.  I then had to figure out how the book would be distributed to 5 hospitals and over a hundred clinics including answering questions such as how many books would fit in a box, how many boxes would fit on a palette and how many palettes could be delivered to a location at one time and not interfere with regular hospital deliveries.  So I called loading docks and coordinated with them and acted as the go-between for the printer and the various hospitals.

The key to all of this was reaching out to team members, administrators and patients for their input.  I asked everyone I had photographed or interviewed for a podcast for a paragraph in their own words of what COVID was like for them.  I went to the floor of Emergency Departments and ICUs to interview people and find out what they were thinking and feeling.  The stories I received were so powerful that I added pages to include some of their letters word for word, even a few hours before the final publish deadline.  Our layout expert Carolyn Hild from Hild-Nelson put in many exhaustive hours redoing the layout for free as a passion project.  The captivating and emotional stories kept me motivated as did some of our frontline staff telling me how thankful they were to have a voice during all of the COVID chaos.

The final version of the book turned out beautifully.  We were able to distribute 17,000 copies and keep the cost down to around $4 per book.  Because the book looked so expensive, some people were upset that we had spend money on printing a book vs giving everyone a raise.  But most people liked the book and years later they still mention to me what it means to them.  Nurses in the ICU at Glenbrook Hospital were signing copies like a yearbook, and they all signed one copy and gave it to their manager.  People wrote me and called me and told me they cried while reading the stories.  I felt vindicated for all my years of working on my photo and creative skills.  I felt like I had used my skills to directly help others I respect so much and to remember a few of those who had lost their lives.  I was proud of my long hours and for conquering my fears at trying something completely new.

If you would like to see the final version, the PDF can be downloaded from here:

This project is definitely one of the highlights of my career.  When I first started out creating photos and videos in healthcare, I imagined that I would be in the Emergency Room every day recording dramatic things.  But the reality is usually less dramatic.  Being in my position for a long time (more than 18 years), the organization trusted me to pull this off.  They bankrolled my idea and let me basically do whatever I wanted.  And getting to see an idea turned into reality is something that I am very proud of.  But most of all, I am proud to have helped tell the stories of so many people who put their lives on the line every day to help others.  Getting to call many of these people my friends is just icing on the cake.