Dr. Schwartz says he started his weekly motivational speeches because stress at the hospital was at an all-time high.
One New York emergency room doctor is going viral after delivering epic movie monologues to his staff to inspire them as they handle the COVID-19 outbreak.
Dr. Matthew Schwartz of Northwell Hospital in the Long Island town of Bay Shore channeled Al Pacino’s infamous locker room speech from “Any Given Sunday,” and tapped into his inner Rocky Balboa as he told his staff “it’s not about how hard you hit, it is about how hard you get hit and keep moving forward, that is how winning is done!”
Schwartz says he started his weekly motivational speeches because stress at the hospital was at an all-time high.
“It's been intense. no one trained for anything like this,” he told Inside Edition. “Everyone was overwhelmed [and] getting tense with each other.”
He says the movie lines turned out to be the right kind of medicine he and his staff needed.
“Next thing you know, everyone wanted to know if I had another speech and I was like ‘oh man, I got to go home and practice I guess,’” he said.
He drew inspiration from the 2004 film, “Miracle,” about the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” hockey team that overcame the odds to beat Russia in the Olympics. He swapped out the words referencing the hockey team and made them about the hospital staff.
“Today we are the greatest emergency department in the world,” he declared to his staff.
Jim Craig, a member of the famed team, got wind of the video and tweeted his applause.
Schwartz also referred to Bill Pullman’s speech in the blockbuster “Independence Day,” where the character, who is the president of the United States, vows to not go down without a fight.
“We're going to survive," Schwartz said. We are going to move on!”
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