Noah Wyle is standing up for healthcare workers after decades of highlighting their industry’s challenges in his portrayals of fictional doctors.
The Emmy-winning star of The Pitt joined his mother, a retired orthopedic and operating room nurse, and a crowd of healthcare professionals and bipartisan lawmakers Thursday at a rally on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. to advocate for policies to better support the medical workforce.
“This isn’t about politics,” Wyle, 54, said at the Health Care Workers Rally. “Cancer is not partisan. A stroke is not partisan. A kid with a fever in the middle of night is not partisan. The healthcare professional who shows up for that patient should not have to beg for basic support from a system that they hold together.”
Following a line-up of nurses and doctors who spoke at the event, Wyle was visibly emotional as he took the stage directly after his mother, Marjorie Speer, and greeted her with a hug. He opened: “Following my mother is a tough act anywhere. Following her at a rally for healthcare professionals at the United States Capitol is a different kind of impossible.”
The actor continued: “I want to be super clear about who is talking to you right now: I am not a doctor. I am not a nurse. I am not a member in any way of the healthcare workforce that I love so dearly. I am an actor. I’m the son of a nurse who spent 50 years caring for other people, and I’ve spent decades trying to do justice to what she, and the rest of you, actually do. That is the only credential I am claiming today.”
The rally was aimed at pressuring lawmakers to fund a trio of bills to support healthcare workers: the Healthcare of Human Act, which would provide federal tax credits for medical professionals working in short-staffed areas; the Dr. Lorna Breen Healthcare Provider Protection Act, which would fund programs focused on mental health and well-being; and the Healthcare Professionals Speak Free Act, which would protect workers who speak up about workplace safety from retaliation.
Wyle, who plays Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch on the popular HBO Max medical drama, got his start by playing another emergency medicine doctor, Dr. John Carter, on the NBC medical drama ER for 11 seasons.
He has spoken in the past about being inspired by stories from actual medical professionals to accurately represent the pressures of the healthcare industry in media.
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“What I learned from this show, and what is now in my bones, is that medicine is hard enough, but so much of the damage is coming from everything around medicine,” Wyle said during the rally.
He concluded: “To every healthcare professional here, and every healthcare professional watching, I know you do not need another speech about how important you are. You need back up.”
