Medical Dramas Go From T.V. to ER by Donating Medical Supplies to Fight Coronavirus
Real life and fiction might have just had the ultimate crossover with coronavirus (COVID-19) crossing paths with the entertainment world. More specifically, a bevy of TV medical dramas are getting involved in sending out necessary healthcare supplies due to shortages.
With healthcare workers in the middle of the worst crisis of their lifetimes, getting proper medical supplies to them is critical. Because most hospitals are still falling behind, medical TV shows are stepping up.
Numerous shows are offering their supplies from the studio sets. It may be the greatest demonstration ever of fictional TV worlds finding a literal way to save the world.
Plus, with these shows on hiatus due to the virus, they may not have to look real with their supplies for a while.
The generosity of shows like ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and ‘Station 19’
According to a report by Vulture, Grey’s Anatomy, Station 19, and Fox’s The Resident donated all their on-set medical supplies to healthcare workers in their local areas. This includes providing everything from proper N95 masks to gloves and gowns.
Much credit for this can arguably be given to NBC’s ER series. When latter show began in 1994, it took the medical drama to more realistic territory. The set was basically akin to a real hospital using real industry tools, other than the blood being fake.
With medical dramas never wavering on TV, some viewers have taken them for granted. Others might say these shows are aging badly and on their last legs. Now each series going just proved their real worth, giving thought to what might have happened had these shows become defunct.
Their medical donations prove how many medical dramas are still on TV
The medical drama has been a part of TV for well over 60 years, even if many from the past used fake props in their fabricated medical environs. Nowadays, shows like Grey’s Anatomy and even The Good Doctor had a major stockpile of real medical supplies everyone took as expendable just six months ago.
These donations are also a reminder of how many medical dramas still exist on the air. A few are newer and likely to stay active for a few more years, regardless of COVID-19.
A couple of good examples are NBC’s New Amsterdam and ABC’s The Good Doctor, both of which donated masks, gowns, and gloves from their meta surgery units. In many cases, these supplies are going to not only hospitals, but also local firehouses to use when transporting virus patients.
Most impressive of all is this action by American TV is not just relegated to medical dramas. Insider notes many others in TV production are donating supplies when needed. Dick Wolf’s Chicago franchise on NBC is another example of cop/legal/medical dramas working together to provide necessary items.
Medical supply donations by TV shows are an international coalition
America is not the only country with medical dramas still permeating the airwaves. In the UK, these are still a viable genre. As a result, their own medical shows (Casualty and Holby City as just two) are also donating supplies from their sets to local British hospitals.
In the U.K., COVID-19 has wreaked havoc and likely to get worse, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson being diagnosed as positive. Knowing the entertainment world there is taking responsibility in dealing with medical shortages is another good feeling.
Once a vaccine is created for COVID-19, medical dramas may end up gaining a lot more respect in the next year. Aging shows like Grey’s Anatomy will probably address this virus as well, not including making more episode tributes to real healthcare heroes.
Concerns over this virus will likely change people forever in appreciating things not always deemed essential.
