The sixth season of the documentary TV series Life on the Line is now available to stream online through Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), bringing some of the unseen stories of the pandemic into focus.
The season spotlights Loma Linda University Health (LLUH) hospitals as they fight the coronavirus pandemic. Real people, doctors, and patients alike, search for hope in the midst of COVID-19. In five 30-minute episodes, Life on the Line presents an inspiring view of the strength and spirit of these people and their stories.
“The serious situation we find ourselves in daily saps at our strength, but this season shows how our circumstances do not define our measure of hope and resilience,” LLUH president Richard Hart said. “The series team captured the shockwaves felt in the health care world in an impactful, inspiring way unique to other seasons of this show.”
Narrated by award-winning journalist Lisa Ling, each episode follows the experience of doctors and the patients they serve. Journey with a non-Intensive Care Unit (ICU) doctor inundated with COVID-19 patients who tries to restore a pastor to his beloved congregation; an obstetrics-gynecologist on a mission to save an unborn baby and her mother; a burned-out ICU doctor fighting to stem the tide of coronavirus infections; a forensic pediatrician who unveils the ugly, hidden pandemic; and finally, a financial crisis that threatens to crush the hospital.
The Emmy award-winning show has aired on hundreds of stations and markets in the United States. The show has a long history of winning multiple awards.
In 2016, Life on the Line won its first Emmy in the category of health and science for a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) episode called “Rough Beginnings.” The following year, the show took home seven Emmy awards for its third season. In total, the show’s first three seasons earned seven Emmy awards in the United States and aired on more than 300 public television stations in more than 130 markets across the country.
In 2019, Mound City Films took home an Emmy at the 45th annual Pacific Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Emmy Awards ceremony for its Life on the Line series episode about a teenager in Southern California who received a heart transplant. It was Mound City Films’ 14th Emmy.
The original version of this story was posted on the Loma Linda University Health news site.