Page 63 - Metro

AUSTRALIA ON
THE SMALL SCREEN

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given a script and tasked with performing the role of
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aspiring doctors are rated on their performance using
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toms, picking up on particular behaviours and identify
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my situation/problem.’
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1
I spent a lot of 2017 in hospitals, in waiting rooms or
lying on examination tables, as a result of my chronic
illness. The scars of past poor hospital treatment sit with
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had surgery over ten years ago, the staff were so awful
during my recovery that my very reasonable and kind
mother went from pleading with to yelling at the nurses.
Hospitals can be places of healing, but they can equally
be places of pain and trauma and grief.
I learnt that year that, often, the most caring acts are
small or unsaid. In the recovery bay after my most recent
surgery, I asked to be helped from the bed so I could
use the toilet. One nurse helped me to my feet, made
sure I was steady and took my arm so I felt protected
as I walked down the cold, hard corridor. By the time I
had arrived back at my bay, another nurse had taken my
bed away, wheeled in a comfortable recliner and brought
me a fresh blanket. This held me up even more than the
nurse who took my arm. This told me I had a team, I had
support – and that comfort and care were important.
When you are sick and vulnerable, nothing means more.
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Claire van der Boom as Frankie Bell, a resident doctor
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on the renal ward and the opportunity it will afford her
to learn from resident nephrologist Chad Berger (Owen
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twist comes from the connection between these two
characters, not only as teacher and student, but also
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Drama of real life
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rapid kidney failure when Berger brought her back to
life. After a kidney transplant restored her health, Frankie
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decided to go to medical school, vowing to give back. It
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has bred in her not only a dogged determination to excel
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