But also, the way that the hospice nurses are so compassionate and calm and present, but at the same time detached. I took a lot of that into the betrayal of Dana, just in general, understanding that you’re the one with the issue, either the family member or the patient themselves, and being really stable and really solid for them. I learned that from real nurses, and I bring that in.
There’s a death doula in the show. Based on what you’ve just told me, is that something that you would ever consider?
I heard there’s training for it; I think I might do that. I don’t know that I would do it professionally. I don’t know that I would want to do it all the time, but I could understand getting that training.
It’s so funny, Jennifer Gray and I are talking about getting the death doula training. We both are interested in it. I was at some party and was talking to somebody about this. And Jennifer’s like, “What are you talking about?” I was like, “Well, we’re talking about death doulas.” She’s like, “This is my thing.” And I’m like, “What?” And then we were all three of us just talking about death at this Hollywood party.
It feels so good to be of service; how much better to even have an education in it and to be able to be of better service in those situations. I don’t think I would do it for a living. I think I’m too artistic. I’m too visual. I would probably do design.
There’s a scene where Dana and Emma are cleaning up Louie’s body. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that specific procedure, I guess you could call it, on a medical drama. What was working on that scene like for you?
It was interesting. Noah had asked that we do the scene, at least that I do the scene—Emma’s never done it before—in a very matter-of-fact way. He really wanted that cleanup scene to feel very matter of fact, I think to show the strength of Dana, the strength of nurses that do this, and also it belies how much we’ve done it.
I say the line about, something like, “These frequent flyers can be a real pain in the ass, but you really miss them when they’re gone.” Something like that. “When one of them dies, it’s like a wound in the force.” It makes me emotional talking about it. I felt like it was really emotional to do that scene.
I was shadowing at County when a guy came in that was one of the frequent flyers. The charge nurse was explaining to me that he was probably going to die soon, and she was the one who gave them the line that’s like, “When one of them dies, it’s like a wound in the force.” It actually came from her. I think it’s a misquote from Star Wars.
I learned from this nurse how much she cared and loved these people, but also, again, that detachment where you can say, “They’re going to die soon.” She was explaining that particular person’s personality, that she thought they came in for attention. They mostly really just came in for attention. I guess the frequent flyers probably come in because they don’t really have anyone that loves them, right?