Sacred Heart Hospital
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Sacred Heart Hospital is the fictional teaching hospital on American situation comedy Scrubs. The set of Sacred Heart is in the former North Hollywood Medical Center (), a real decommissioned hospital on Riverside Drive in North Hollywood, California. Besides providing the set for Sacred Heart, the hospital also houses many other Scrubs sets (such as J.D. and Turk's and Dr Cox's apartments and the bar), the offices of many of the Scrubs crew and post-production facilities (such as the voice-over studio and editing suite).
Sacred Heart is an inner city hospital. Staff at the hospital seem to think that it is a very good hospital. Dr Kelso once said that he thinks that people choose to be treated there because they see Sacred Heart doctors as professionals, but also because he leaks vicious rumours about competing hospitals to the press. JD once remarked that "here at Sacred Heart, you get to work with some of the finest doctors in the country", although seconds later, Dr Todd Quinlan ran past shouting "Out of my way! I got a doozy of a twosie!" But it is true that Dr Cox was once named as the finest physician in the city by a local magazine. The hospital's employees have gained the attention of the press on several other occasions too, most notably when JD and Turk resuscitated a local news cameraman and were dubbed as heroes (My Fifteen Minutes) and when Turk performed a ground breaking surgery using hypnosis instead of traditional anesthesia (My Day at the Races.)
Sacred Heart is run primarily by Chief of Medicine Dr Robert "Bob" Kelso. There is also a Chief of Surgery, but who seems to take a smaller role and has never been named. The hospital is owned by a corporation run by Whitaker Chambers, whose son once worked at Sacred Heart as a medical student, but there are several other notable board members and benefactors, including:
- Jordan Sullivan (who gained the position from her deceased father)
- Mr Summers
- Mr Franks
- Mrs Warner
- Mr Zerbo
[edit] Location
The locale of Sacred Heart within the fictional world of Scrubs is a secret that has been well-kept by the cast and crew of the show, who go so far as to describe the location as "San DaFrangeles" – an amalgam of San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles that is meant to encompass a large part of California. However, many fans continue to speculate about where exactly the show might take place, and based on current clues, the show does seem to take place somewhere in the state of California. These clues include:
- During episodes that air during the winter months, characters are seen wearing winter clothing such as coats, gloves, and scarves, suggesting that the climate is a less temperate one than that found in Florida or Southern California. The average winter temperatures in San Francisco/Oakland are 45-58 °F.
- Exterior shots on the show reveal very flat land with palm trees and other features of hotter climates.
- In Episode 1.4, “My Old Lady,” Carla states that a third of the hospital's patients speak Spanish as a primary language, which may reflect upon the demographics of the location.
- In Episode 1.11, “My Own Personal Jesus,” there are allusions to Miller Park being right next to the hospital. Turk is also within running distance of the park. There is a Joaquin Miller Park in Oakland and a Miller Park in Sacramento. But a song written especially for the episode claims that there were 'eleven drive-by shootings' in the city on one night, a possible reference to gang warfare associated with Los Angeles.
- In the early episodes of season 3, Elliot took a commuter train to visit her then-boyfriend Sean (played by Scott Foley), who worked as an animal trainer at a SeaWorld theme park. SeaWorld has locations in Cleveland, Orlando, San Antonio, and San Diego. The SeaWorld shown in season 3 is located in San Diego.
- In Episode 3.04, “My Lucky Night,” the front destination panel of the bus that Sean takes reads Redding. This may be a reference to Redding, California.
- In Episode 4.04, “My First Kill,” a conversation between Elliot and Dr. Molly Clock establishes that the time difference between the location of the hospital and Greenland is three hours, as Greenland is largely UTC-3 (though this varies from UTC to UTC-4), this places Sacred Heart in UTC-6, or Central Standard Time. In the same episode, Elliot asks Molly if she wants to go to the Little Tokyo district of the city with her, which could be a reference to Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California.
- In episode 4.08, “My Last Chance,” Molly is leaving in a taxi cab with a California license plate 2FAN321, which conforms to the California license-plate format of a number, followed by three letters, then by three numbers.
- In episode 4.09, “My Malpractical Decision,” Turk reveals his new cell phone number to be (916) CALL-TUR. The area code 916 corresponds to the metropolitan area of Sacramento, which contradicts other clues about the show's location. Many fans have pointed out, however, that the area code for cell phones can correspond to where the phone was purchased, implying that Turk may have bought his phone in the Sacramento area and brought it to Sacred Heart's home city. This is also because this phone number is a real phone number bought by the producers and callers have reached members of the cast. In addition, the cellular device itself could have been bought anywhere in the world (if it was a GSM phone) and connected to a local cellular service provider, which would assign the actual dialing number according to customer's calling area choice.
- In Episode 4.21, “My Lips Are Sealed,” J.D. sets his clock back three hours to see what it would be like to live in Honolulu, which suggests that the location is either in the Pacific or Mountain time zones, depending on Daylight Savings.
- In Episode 4.25, "My Changing Ways," Turk brings J.D. a pizza from Big Mama's & Papa's Pizzeria, which is available only in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
- In Episode 5.05, “My New God,” Turk is on his way home to meet Carla and stops by at a Dunkin Donuts Shop. Dunkin Donuts' are extremely rare in California and one of the only ones in Northern California is located at 3311 Power Inn Rd Ste 101, Sacramento.
- In Episode 5.10, “Her Story II,” J.D. implies that the city has a Chinatown. Given the evidence that the city is likely in California, this could point to San Francisco or Los Angeles, which both have large Chinatowns.
- In Episode 5.15, “My Extra Mile,” Dr. Cox says that they are giving Tastykakes away. This brand of snack cake is only distributed on the U.S. East Coast, particularly around the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
- In Episode 5.24, “My Transition,” J.D. takes his new love interest on a date at the beach, implying that the show is set near a coastal area.
- IN epsiode 4.1, during the scene where J.D. thinks he's goin to get that hug from Dr. Cox, the whiteboard in the background advertises "Bowling night at Kona Lanes." Kona Lanes is a landmark bowling alley in Costa Mesa California that was closed down and demolished in 2003.
[edit] Areas of the Hospital
Sacred Heart is a large hospital, but there are certain featured locations where scenes tend to take place or the characters congregate.
Hospital Admissions: This area at the front of the hospital acts as a waiting room for patients, but also features a Reception Desk manned by Nurses. There is also a gift shop, operated by Lisa. Characters sometimes discuss things at the Reception Desk.
Intensive Care Unit (ICU): A large ward featuring an opened out area with beds, private rooms and a Nurses' desk. The main characters seem to spend most of their time there, as it is where Sacred Heart's most critical patients are kept.
Hallway Nurses' Station: Another Nurses' Station, sometimes manned by Carla or Laverne. Doctors will sometimes also congregate there to talk with Nurses.
Doctor's Lounge: This where the characters hang out, relax, watch television or research diagnoses. There is also a Pac-Man machine and a coffee dispenser.
Cafeteria: Where the characters hang out and eat their meals. Noted to be a cliquey place, with certain groups within the hospital sometimes eating seperately from others. JD has sometimes stated that he does not like the food at the cafeteria, but he claims he is "used to it." There have been many different staff members working in the cafeteria, but two of the most notable are Troy and Kenny.
On-Call Room: A room containing beds where doctors who are on-call attempt to sleep. But as JD once noted, not a lot of sleeping actually takes place.
| Scrubs |
|---|
| List of Scrubs episodes | List of relationships on Scrubs | Sacred Heart Hospital |
| Characters |
| J.D. | Elliot | Turk | Carla | Dr. Cox | Bob Kelso | Janitor | List of minor characters of Scrubs |
