Residents were featured in two episodes of 'Dinner: Impossible,' bringing national attention to their culinary roots.
"Dinner: Impossible" host/chef Michael Symon, top, second from right, was assisted by, from left, Andrea Gillespie, Marquita Cunningham, of 24th and Wharton streets, and Gaetan Sgro. Residents of 1200 block of Alder Street, below, enjoyed a block party for the same show. Photo courtesy of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Although she didn't know it at the time, when Marquita Cunningham suffered a massive heart attack, there was only one place in her mind to go: Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.
With no family history of the illness and a clean bill of health to date, the now-38-year-old from 24th and Wharton streets never thought her sudden bout of chills, nausea and indigestion were signs of a heart attack.
"I was 35 at the time. I thought, 'I could not be having a heart attack,'" she said. "I didn't know what symptoms to look for."
After she was taken to the emergency room and had an echocardiogram, Cunningham was in the care of one of the hospital's 2,000 nurses.
"The nurse looked at me, I looked at her. She couldn't believe it," she said of finding out Cunningham had had such a serious attack -- her left ventricle was 99 percent blocked. "I never lost consciousness. I had surgery that night."
Cunningham was a hospital employee, having worked in the nursing department as a data coordinator for 11 years, but after being on the other end, she wanted to give back.
In May, Cunningham, along with two former patients with potentially life-threatening conditions, got the opportunity to say thanks in a big way. The three acted as sous chefs to Iron Chef Michael Symon, host of the Food Network's "Dinner: Impossible" for his mission to prepare an elegant meal for 250 as part of National Nurses Week, which commemorates and thanks the profession for all it does.
Once Symon returned from the Reading Terminal Market with the fare -- prime rib, tuna, pork and ingredients for cold curry soup -- the three former patients, including Gaetan Sgro and Andrea Gillespie, set to work helping him.
As is the show's norm, Symon was given a timeframe -- about eight hours -- to get the ingredients, put it together in the provided space, in this case, the hospital's industrial-sized kitchen, and prepare it all from scratch.
"There was a heightened sense of excitement throughout the entire day," Mary Ann McGinley, Jefferson's senior vice president of patient care services and chief nursing officer, who was onsite throughout the filming last spring, said. "There were intense moments. The cook was the person responsible for the entire thing coming together, but the three patients I cannot praise enough. They pitched right in -- cut carrots, stirred pudding [for dessert] -- they did everything."
Avid baker Cunningham had no problem in front of the camera.
"It was very natural," she said of the experience. "I was smiling the whole time."
Of course, there were a few hiccups, she said, like when 50 quarts of heavy cream were needed for cr�me brulee and Symon had a hard time tracking down such a large quantity. When it could not be found, a quick switch led the team to make vanilla custard with bananas.
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