Dr. Gabriela Magda is on the frontline helping her patients fight coronavirus at NYC Health and Hospitals/Bellevue. Her shifts last 12 hours minimum each day.
"I am an intensive care unit doctor. So I see the sickest patients in the hospital. The volumes of patients that we're seeing are much bigger than we see in a usual day. So from the start of this it's been quite a different experience than what our typical ICU experiences are like and it's only gotten busier," said Dr. Magda.
With so much on her mind, one thing she really doesn’t have time to prep for is food. So that’s where Broadway comes in! Tony winner Celia Keenan-Bolger and Tony nominee Gideon Glick created a virtual meal train called "Broadway Feeds Bellevue." And they’re doing just that.
"When I was doing 'To Kill A Mockingbird' with Gideon Glick in between shows, a lot of the time his husband Perry would come and hang out with us, and Perry was a doctor. And I emailed Gideon and I was like, can we like set up a meal train for Perry? And his staff on, like his floor. And Perry basically said, you know, I work in a hospital where there are a lot of resources, but I have a friend who works at Bellevue, Bellevue is overwhelmed with patients," recalled Keenan-Bolger.
So Celia and Gideon lept into action. Celia gathered support from her well-known theater and film friends and Gideon called on local restaurants to set up deliveries for the healthcare workers at Bellevue.
"It’s also an initiative to use local restaurants and support local restaurants by sourcing their food and their meals nightly. So we have four restaurants that's Westville, Taïm, The Village Den and Ruby’s. And every night they feed close to 160 people and we're expanding," said Glick.
Since its creation just a couple of weeks ago, the response has been amazing. The virtual meal train has raised more than $140,000. Dr. Magda, a self-proclaimed Broadway fan says she’s being nourished beyond what’s on the plate.
"I'm a theater lover. It's one of the things that I love to do in the city when I have free time. And so it felt a little surreal to now have the Broadway community cheering me and my coworkers on," Dr. Magda said.
If you would like to support Dr. Magda and her staff, head to BroadwayFeedsBellevue.org.