I much preferred the early years of the Nurses Ball when the focus was fundraising for AIDS research. I despise the emphasis on attendees' wardrobe and the "red carpet" interviews. It should NOT be about the "who's who in Port Charles" !!!! Sometimes they mention Robin as an afterthought but the entire original premise has been so diluted. Recent years have felt like a social media instagram likes/followers contest -- instead of the founding purpose about science and relieving suffering. I don't mind Lucy wearing a gown or several gowns; but I think the rest of the characters should be wearing business attire, and not tuxedos and gowns.
Sony Eddy (the actress who played head nurse Epiphany) -- in real life she championed the nursing profession. Just like actress Mariska Hargitay of SVU does support causes to help rape victims.
When Sonya Eddy died, a few real-life cast&crew of GH suggested creating a real-life scholarship for nursing students, as a way to honor Sonya (I don't know if that ever happened).
I had hoped that the fictional characters could do something similar: To update the Nurses Ball to continue funding HIV research but also to create scholarships for nursing students (and/or medical students) who want to dedicate their lives to serving others. Maybe include the idea of raising funds for scholarships for girls and women pursuing any STEM career (STEM = science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
The 2023 Nurses Ball was done in conjunction with the GH 60th Anniversary year, and they wanted to make it also be an occasion to honor Jackie Zeman's 40 years on GH by making the fictional Nurses Ball a tribute to Bobbie. This was when Jackie was still alive and her illness was not publicly known. I did like that a lot, but I still hated the sequined gowns and the red carpet nonsense. I'm guessing the tribute to Bobbie/Jackie was long-planned, so they centered it around that.
Sonya died unexpectedly a few months before/after that. I very much liked the separate tribute that GH did for Sonya with Epiphany's memorial service, ending with Rachel Ames' voice on the phone as Audrey telling Elizabeth that she was chosen as Head Nurse to replace Epiphany.
I miss the real-life N'neka Garland (the GH producer, not the fictional bartender character who was named after the producer). The real-life N'neka died the same year as Jackie and Sonya. Several of the cast and crew said she was the heart of the show and always knew what to do, how to plan, and how to be supportive, and she really ran the show. I feel like she would have caught the missing threads and championed the scholarship.
Anyhow, for future Nurses Ball events, I would like to see refocus on medicine, science, and service. Now is the time to bring up the idea for a scholarship -- I'd love to see Elizabeth champion it.
Edit to add: Another idea for the Ball: to raise funds for research for multiple diseases in addition to HIV. But keep HIV since HIV programs still need funding.
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janea4old ·
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