'Grey's Anatomy' star Ellen Pompeo calls for more women in power at hospitals
Ellen Pompeo, who’s played a doctor on hospital drama Grey’s Anatomy for 15 years, wants to see some changes in healthcare.
She explained in a video conversation with health professionals posted on Tuesday to her Instagram page that she wants women and people of color in larger roles.
“We have to have more people in administrative positions of power. We have to have more women and more Black women, more women, more people of color, more women of color in these hospitals, as hospital owners and hospital administrators, otherwise nothing is ever going to change,” Pompeo said. “It’s the same in Hollywood. As long as you keep the people of color or the Black women down at the bottom and there’s no opportunity for executives in power that look like you, things will never change.”
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Pompeo, who notes in her Instagram bio that she’s “Not a real doctor, but a really good fake one,” was joined in a virtual sit-down by Dr. Nisha Mehta and nurses Monique Doughty and Sheena Williams, who discussed their experiences working in hospitals and the challenges they’ve faced in their careers.
Later, Mehta noted that she had received more support from her male colleagues than females when she needed to pump breast milk for her baby or otherwise put her family first. Mehta recalled some of the women she worked with feeling that, since they were able to manage, she should, too.
Pompeo said she had been on both sides of that scenario.
“I’d say, I used to do 100-hour weeks,” Pompeo said. “You know, when we first started the show, no one’s ever worked as hard as I worked in the first four years of this show. Everybody else burnt out, and I’m still standing, so if I did it, everybody can do it, which isn’t what you should be thinking.”
And yet, she continued, “I certainly have experienced a lack of compassion from other women, too.”
The women agreed that the goal is to make it easier for the next generation of women, so they won’t have it so hard.
Pompeo is one of many celebrities using their platform to easily reach the masses during a period of protests again racial injustice and the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, Tiffany Haddish, Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner are among those who’ve had one-on-one interviews with Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, to talk about the coronavirus.
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