This Thanksgiving season, The Pitt forged is expressing gratitude for health care staff.
While actors like Noah Wyle, Supriya Ganesh and Shabana Azeez play doctors on TV, they know firsthand just how hard — and essential — the job of hospital staff is.
“In the course of the pandemic, we saw this unbelievable rise of appreciation for frontline staff and the risks that they take,” Wyle, 54, exclusively told Us Weekly at The Rape Treatment Center and Stuart House at UCLA Health’s annual brunch in October. “Everybody went out and banged on pots and pans and cheered [for] them coming up their subway stops. After which that became almost a carnival and a show of appreciation. Then it died down.”
What didn’t stop, in accordance with Wyle, was doctors, nurses and support staff going to work day by day and doing “the very same job that they’ve been doing before people banged on pots and after they’d stopped banging on pots.”
In celebration of Thanksgiving week, we asked some members of The Pitt forged to share what impresses them about health care staff. With every answer, the actors couldn’t hide their gratitude for the work they do each and day by day.
Katherine LaNasa
Katherine Lanasa Warrick Page / HBO MAX/ Courtesy Everett Collection
“I actually have to say that I had cancer recently, and the nurses that took the time to only give them themselves — they usually really didn’t must — to only say those little words of encouragement, to bring a warm blanket, things like that, I just really honor them and feel so grateful,” LaNasa, who plays charge nurse Dana Evans, told Us. “In my experience, I didn’t feel victimized by my cancer experience. I felt lucky to have medical care, to have caring people attending to me, to live in a rustic where I actually have cancer detection screening, things like that, and just to essentially be held by the health care system that we now have, which is hanging on by a thread, which is why we want to support places just like the Stuart House and The Rape Treatment Center.”
Supriya Ganesha
Supriya Ganesha Warrick Page/MAX
“I love health care staff for his or her compassion, empathy and selflessness, especially in a system that’s increasingly deprioritizing their needs,” Ganesha, who plays Dr. Samira Mohan, told Us. “There are only a few professions which are truly in such service to others, and I commend them for the whole lot they decide to face simply to make a positive difference in someone’s life. Thanks for the whole lot you do!”
Shabana Azeez
Shabana Azeez Warrick Page / HBO MAX/ Courtesy Everett Collection
“Dedicating your life to saving lives is such a brave thing to do. Each health care employee is a hero,” Azeez, who plays Dr. Victoria Javadi, explained to Us. “I’m grateful for the strength they must experience a lot death and suffering each day and respond with empathy and kindness. They make so many sacrifices and provides us a lot. I hope that we as a society can provide them the love and gratitude they deserve.”
Noah Wyle
Noah Wyle Warrick Page / HBO MAX/ Courtesy Everett Collection
Simply because the coronavirus pandemic passed doesn’t mean the job of a health care employee has gotten easier, in accordance with Wyle.
“If anything, their jobs have gotten harder. Persons are coming in sicker, higher acuity. They’re coming in angrier. They’re having to attend longer due to boarding crises, nursing shortages, supply chain issues,” Wyle, who plays Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch, shared with Us. “The toll that it takes on the staff is immense. That’s why you see the very best incidence of alcoholism, drug addiction, divorce, suicide — not only among the many medical specialty, but amongst any career in frontline staff. So doing a show that shines a light-weight somewhat bit and hopefully raises empathy and compassion for folks that are in those jobs who’re only there to select up our broken pieces, looks like the appropriate thing to do.”
The Pitt is streaming now on HBO Max with season 2 set to premiere in early 2026.