On Sept. 13, the world was introduced to Joe — an Alzheimer’s patient with the good fortune of being treated by one of the prettiest nurses in the profession.
Kelley Johnson, better known as Miss Colorado, revealed her flair for the avant-garde last week when she disregarded the traditional dance numbers and piano-playing routines of Miss America contestants to recite an original monologue about her career as a nurse. She disregarded the traditional evening gowns and bathing suits for a pair of purple scrubs and tennis shoes.
She didn’t sing. She didn’t show off. Instead, the Centennial State representative decided to seize her once in a lifetime opportunity to tell the world a story.
On Monday morning, Sept. 14, co-hosts of “The View” Michelle Collins and Joy Behar, decided to have some fun with Johnson’s performance.
As many people know, the fine ladies of ABC’s daytime talk show tend to lean towards the non-filtered spectrum of societal commentary. Whoopi Goldberg and co. are among the harshest of morning television critics. And their stamp of approval is, therefore, much more worth the winning.
Collins, after implying that she was initially excited to see an original monologue, claimed that Johnson basically “read her emails out loud.” Behar then asked why a nurse was wearing a “doctor’s stethoscope.”
Enter the nurses of America.
A countless number of our heroes in scrubs took to the Internet with #NursesUnite to protest the false implications presented on live TV. I saw several nurses post pictures of themselves in their traditional hospital attire, minus their stethoscopes, with captions reading, “No stethoscope, dunno how to use one anyhow.” Even doctors jumped on the bandwagon; one posted a picture of two stethoscopes with the caption, “Can’t figure out the difference between the doctor stethoscope and the nurse stethoscope.”
While Collins and Behar both recanted their statements — fortunately before they were trampled to death by protesting medical professionals — their words have succeeded in bringing together leagues of America’s unsung heroes. I am truly glad for this. Because beyond the white rooms and stage make up of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scrubs” is a profession filled with empathetic, loving, well-trained nurses who know exactly how to use a stethoscope. They take care of our old, our wounded, our sick. They take care of people like Joe.
They wear tennis shoes. And they save lives.
All it took was a small-town girl from Windsor, Colorado, to draw attention to the overlooked in America’s hospitals.
Kelley Johnson is not Miss America. She is just a nurse. But I don’t think she would want it any other way.
