ODESSA, Texas — A new series is coming to Amazon Prime Video, and it will be featuring some familiar faces. "Desert Doc" is a series that follows the day-to-day challenges and triumphs that come with working in emergency medicine.
Filmed over a 12-month period, Desert Doc gives viewers a behind the scenes look into the walls of Medical Center Hospital (MCH) and the streets of Odessa.
"People come into the ER and they think, you know, it's just I've got a hurt arm or hurt leg," President and CEO of MCH Russell Tippin said. "They don't understand the magnitude of the traumas that we treat in the entire Permian Basin."
The show follows medical workers at their best, doing everything they can to save lives, even amidst tragedy. The series was in the middle of filming when the 2019 mass shooting took place.
"Well, my forth day on the job here at Medical Center was the day of the mass shooting and it did not take me long at all to learn that I was dealing and working with the best staff that there is available in Texas," Tippin said. "I saw it with my own eyes. I heard it with my own ears, and I saw how they took care of people. They had no idea who they were or what where they were coming from, they gave everything they had that day to make sure those people got the best care. I saw it first-hand."
Filming during that time was intense for everyone. While MCH had to be there for the community, they were also there for each other.
"We are always working with our crew to make sure they're not just physically OK, but they're also mentally OK because as soon as one problem is over, there's another one and another one and another one walking through the door," Tippin said. "So we want to make sure that our crew is always at their peak performance and they're able to handle whatever walks through that door."
The show won't just focus on how MCH keeps Odessans healthy and safe, but how they serve as a beacon of hope for all West Texans.
"We are dealing with some very, very major problems and that they all come here," Tippin said. "Whether you're in Pecos, Fort Stockton, Andrews, Seminole, those people are coming to see us with these major traumas and our crews are doing a knockout job to get them back to their daily routine."
Desert Doc won't just tell the story of those who work at MCH today, they hope that the series will inspire the next generation of lifesavers in West Texas and beyond.
"We want people to see that are in healthcare that when they come to Odessa and to Medical Center in the Permian Basin, that we are functioning as high as any Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, anywhere in the world we are functioning the same as these centers that are much bigger than us," Tippin said.
If you at home would like to get a first look at Desert Doc, Odessa Fire Rescue is hosting a premiere party on Saturday, April 13 at Odessa Firehouse #6. The event is from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and is free to the public.
To watch the trailer, click here.