Book Brief :: Every Storm Runs Out of Rain

Brief review of Every Storm Runs Out of Rain

Every Storm Runs Out of Rain: Leading a Health Care Marketing Team Through a Global Pandemic by Amy Comeau is one of those books that hits especially close to home. Until recently, Amy served as the Vice President of Marketing for Emory Healthcare, guiding her team through the pandemic.

During the pandemic, I was in the same city and in a similar role as Amy, but on the communications side of things. I met Amy during this time because, while our organizations are normally competitors, they forged a unique collaboration during COVID-19. Our goal: to deliver a unified, consistent message to our communities and patients. The photo shown below is of Amy (left) and me (right) on stage in 2024, speaking to a room of marketing and communications professionals about that very partnership.

Amy Comeau (left) and Elisabeth Wang (right) speaking to the marketing and communications pros at the 2024 MAXAwards.

The book is a collection of weekly emails Amy sent to her team—brief, heartfelt messages of encouragement, motivation, and inspiration—designed to help them navigate the pandemic both professionally and personally. For those of us in healthcare, the line between the two was often blurred.

Though it’s not a long read, I found myself moving through it slowly. Sometimes it was because certain passages stirred a low-level PTSD from the darker periods: the days and weeks when hospitals were overwhelmed, when hope gave way to mistrust and hostility, and when the losses became personal. Other times, I slowed down because I wanted to savor it—pausing to reflect on all we endured and, like Amy, to feel pride in what our organizations – and specifically our non-clinical but essential teams – accomplished in the face of incredible challenges.

I believe anyone who worked in healthcare or communications during COVID-19 will connect deeply with Amy’s words. And for those outside the industry, she provides enough context and plain-language reflection to ensure you’re never lost in the sea of acronyms and jargon our field so often produces.

I highly recommend it for anyone interested in a true and personal journey of the pandemic.