15 minutes

So, I've shared before about my desire to be a star! Well, this week I had an opportunity and I seized it. Unfortunately I will not be on any billboards nor will you the see the 2 minute trailer anytime soon BUT if you are being trained as a Patient Advocate at hospitals around the country, you may catch a little glimpse of me!

Here's how it happened:

I was leaving our Social Work all Staff meeting and Donna, who I am on a committee with, told me to come inside a room for auditions. I was a bit confused so she briefly explained about some video that was being filmed to show what a day in the life of a Patient Advocate looks like. At Duke, PA's are there to listen to complaints and to ensure families and patients are receiving the best care possible. It is not an easy job and they can be pulled in many directions everyday.

I went into rehearsal and apparently everyone there had already received a script and knew what part they wanted to try out for. I quickly looked over the script, started to get nervous and lucky me, my pager went off! I explained to Donna that I was paged to clinic and had to go. She had me quickly write my name and number and suggested I list a character that I would like to play. Since I hadn't made it past page two, I wrote down chaplain which was one of the onscreen parts.

I went about my day and later that afternoon I was paged by Donna. She wanted me to come back and read for a part of the Chaplain. OMG...seriously. I started to get nervous and I quickly read through the lines so I at least knew what I was supposed to be talking about. I got there and was shuffled to the front for my rehearsal.

The scene is a chaplain entering the office of Chris, a PA as she's rushing out the door. The chaplain explains to Chris that a patient they worked with last week didn't do well with treatment so he was discharged to hospice. Chris had worked closely with this family so the chaplain is trying to provide her with support in the scene as Chris receives this terrible news.

I figured this part was actually perfect for me. Hell, I had 7 years of hospice experience to draw from!

I held the script tight and did my first read through without much emotional sincerity. I was nervous and had 25 people staring at me. The director made some suggestions, I took a deep breath and delivered my 12 lines like a star. The room actually applauded and one woman said she had tears in her eyes. I was a bit overwhelmed and the director said the part was mine.

I was on cloud nine! Now don't get me wrong, I knew this wasn't going to be the next Oscar-worthy performance but I was damn proud of myself for doing it.

Today was the shoot and it was a bit like a real set...lots of lights, props, even makeup! Initially there was alot of sitting around because they weren't running on time. I eventually got my microphone attached and entered in to the brightly lit room where they were shooting. In the first two run through's I totally flubbed my lines but luckily everyone was nice and said they could fix stuff in the editing room. They shot two more closeups, one for me and one for the woman playing Chris. I did those lines PERFECTLY. Not one mistake!!! I heard the word cut and I was done. The bright lights faded. My 15 minutes were over and I had to return to work.

Reality quickly set in and I returned to the barrage of emails that were flooding my inbox. I don't' think I will ever get to Hollywood to be a star but I can say that I had a few onscreen minutes even if the only people that ever see it are hospital employees at some random hospital in the middle of Nebraska.