--- title: Amy O'Sullivan Inspires Frontline Worker Doll From Mattel description: Mattel has created six frontline worker dolls modeled on real-life doctors and nurses, including TIME100 cover subject Amy O'Sullivan of Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn. canonical: https://time.com/6087099/mattel-front-line-workers-amy-osullivan/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-08-04T04:05:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:42:29.775Z article:section: Health og:title: Mattel Creates a Doll Version of Nurse Amy O'Sullivan og:description: She appeared on the cover of TIME for its 100 Most Influential People list in 2020 og:url: https://time.com/6087099/mattel-front-line-workers-amy-osullivan/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0909ecb912d43103/698a1b9a929fad2fd1bf78eb/amy-osullivan-doll-mattel-trypich-update.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2400 og:image:height: 1350 og:image:alt: amy-osullivan-doll-mattel-trypich-update og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mattel Creates a Doll Version of Nurse Amy O'Sullivan twitter:description: She appeared on the cover of TIME for its 100 Most Influential People list in 2020 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0909ecb912d43103/698a1b9a929fad2fd1bf78eb/amy-osullivan-doll-mattel-trypich-update.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 01:45 video:published: 2020-09-23 section: health topics: COVID-19, frontline healthcare workers, nursing, intubation, respiratory failure, personal risk, pandemic fear, duty and resolve genre: personal testimony, tribute tones: somber, reflective, determined, emotional emotions: fear (medium), grief (medium), determination (high), pride (medium) sentiment: negative audience: healthcare professionals, general news viewers, people interested in the pandemic, TIME100 readers people: Amy O'Sullivan organizations: TIME content_suitability: health controversy [00:00-00:56]; death [00:49-00:56]; tragedy [00:38-01:19] transcript_source: automatic transcription transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # Mattel Has Created a Line of Dolls Honoring Frontline Workers, Including Nurse Amy O'Sullivan Who Appeared on the Cover of TIME > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=5278e5d1-bea0-4078-ae6e-c0de6d07edb6&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) ## Video: TIME100 | Amy O' Sullivan [Watch (HLS stream): TIME100 | Amy O' Sullivan](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xwgXNky5.m3u8) (1:45)  _Published 2020-09-23. Amy O'Sullivan is a nurse on the front lines battling Covid-19 and she is on the 2020 TIME100 list_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary A nurse describes working on the front lines during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the case of a patient who was her first COVID patient in Brooklyn. Healthcare workers are portrayed as going into battle at great personal risk to themselves and their families as major cities went quiet. The video conveys fear about the virus, the deaths of people the nurse knew, and a sense of duty to keep working. It closes with a call to remember those who pressed on during this time. ## Key points - The nurse's first COVID patient in Brooklyn was her own patient, and she felt short of breath that same Sunday. (00:00) - A 49-year-old male patient is described as having COVID-19 with respiratory failure, and doctors planned to intubate him. (00:19) - The nurse said she just wanted to come back to work and be a nurse as she was being intubated. (00:25) - As major cities went quiet, an international army of healthcare workers went to battle at great personal risk to themselves and their families. (00:38) - The nurse says many people she knows died from the virus, which fuels her fear about what could happen to her. (00:56) - Healthcare workers keep each other together to not fall apart, and they suit up and go without overthinking it. (01:19) - The nurse says she should be jaded by now but is not, and states that this is where she has to be. (01:27) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:38] Personal COVID-19 encounter and first patient. The nurse recounts her first COVID patient in Brooklyn and the start of her own symptoms, followed by a critically ill patient's intubation. - [00:38 to 01:19] Healthcare workers' risk and fear. The video describes healthcare workers going into battle at personal risk and the nurse's fear over colleagues and loved ones dying from the virus. - [01:19 to 01:45] Duty and resolve of frontline workers. The nurse explains how workers keep going together and why she remains committed to being on the front lines. ## Key quotes - [00:00] Amy O'Sullivan: "The first COVID patient in Brooklyn, she was my patient." - [00:25] Amy O'Sullivan: "I just wanted to come back to work and be a nurse." - [00:38] Narrator: "As major cities went quiet, an international army of healthcare workers went to battle." - [00:56] Amy O'Sullivan: "It's just too many people that I know died from this virus." - [01:16] Narrator: "and became the bravest of this generation." - [01:27] Amy O'Sullivan: "I should be jaded by now, but I'm just not." ## Questions this video answers - What is the experience of a nurse working on the front lines of COVID-19? [00:00] - How serious are COVID-19 cases requiring intubation? [00:19] - What personal risks do healthcare workers face during the pandemic? [00:38] - What fears do healthcare workers have about the virus? [00:49] - How do healthcare workers cope with the demands of the pandemic? [01:19] - Why does the nurse feel she must continue working on the front lines? [01:31] ## Content suitability - health controversy [00:00-00:56]: Describes a COVID-19 patient in respiratory failure, intubation, and deaths from the virus. - death [00:49-00:56]: References people the speaker knows dying from COVID-19 and fear of dying. - tragedy [00:38-01:19]: Frames the pandemic as a crisis with personal risk to healthcare workers and their families.  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Aug 4, 2021 4:05 AM UTC  Courtesy Mattel  by [Eliana Dockterman](https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Aug 4, 2021 4:05 AM UTC Mattel is honoring frontline workers with dolls modeled on real-life doctors and nurses. Among them is a doll version of Amy O’Sullivan, a nurse at the [Wyckoff Heights Medical Center](https://time.com/wyckoff-hospital-brooklyn-coronavirus/) in Brooklyn, who [appeared on the cover of TIME](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888224/amy-osullivan/) for the magazine’s [100 Most Influential People](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2020/) list last year. The doll has hand-painted tattoos, silver hair and the colorful socks O’Sullivan wears every day to work. O’Sullivan was particularly touched by the details of her doppelgänger. “I used to get a hard time from the administrators about my tattoos and my hair and my pants being rolled up. But I didn’t want to be like anyone else,” she says. “I’m 58 so I had no role models when I was growing up. This, I think, shows kids it’s O.K. to be different. It encourages them to be themselves.”  Nurse Amy O'Sullivan with the Mattel doll Courtesy Amy O'Sullivan **Read More:** [The 100 Most Influential People of 2020](https://time.com/collection/100-most-influential-people-2020/5888224/amy-osullivan/) The five other dolls are modeled on Dr. Audrey Sue Cruz, a doctor in Las Vegas who is campaigning against racial bias against Asian-American physicians, Dr. Chika Stacy Oriuwa, a psychiatry resident in Canada who is fighting racism in the health care system, Sarah Gilbert, a professor in the U.K. who helped develop a [COVID-19 vaccine](https://time.com/5927342/mrna-covid-vaccine/), Dr. Jaqueline Goes de Jesus, a biomedical researcher who led the sequencing of the genome of the [COVID-19 variant in Brazil](https://time.com/5931366/brazil-new-covid-19-strain/) and Dr. Kirby White, a general practitioner in Australia who developed reusable PPE for doctors. Each of the women was presented with her own one-of-a-kind doll, and the toy company announced it will donate $5 for every doctor, nurse or paramedic Barbie sold at Target to the First Responders’ Children’s Program as part of its #ThankYouHeroes campaign. (The tribute dolls are not for sale.) Mattel launched the campaign last year to give back to communities in need. “This fall, admittedly, we thought we would be further along in the pandemic,” says Lisa McKnight, senior vice president at Mattel and the global brand manager for the Barbie brand. “But it was important to honor these amazing medical workers across the globe as we continue to face a difficult time.” In her [62-year history](http://time.com/barbie-new-body-cover-story), Barbie has held jobs as many different types of health care workers, in part, McKnight says, because children develop relationships with their pediatricians early on. “We hope these dolls can spark important conversations about the pandemic,” she says. “While it’s a somewhat scary topic, we think it opens the door to discussing these frontline workers who are amazing role models.”  Amy O'Sullivan Paola Kudacki for TIME O’Sullivan says she never played with Barbies growing up, though she did play with Ken dolls. Her partner, who is also a nurse, bought their daughters the [gender-neutral dolls](https://time.com/5684822/mattel-gender-neutral-doll/) that Mattel launched in 2019, and O’Sullivan says they loved those dolls’ fluid identities. O’Sullivan believes that her own kids and those she treats at the hospital understand how significant frontline workers are. “Our 6-year-old wants to be a puppy doctor,” she says. “Our 14-year-old is interested in being a surgeon. But they’ve really learned the [importance of nurses and doctors](https://time.com/guardians-of-the-year-2020-anthony-fauci-frontline-health-workers/).” **Read More:** [‘A Doll For Everyone’: Meet Mattel’s Gender-Neutral Doll](https://time.com/5684822/mattel-gender-neutral-doll/) Even as O’Sullivan waxes lyrical about her doll, she admits she is [not feeling particularly optimistic about the pandemic](https://time.com/6081407/covid-19-fourth-wave/). “We just can’t get away from it,” she says. “I see these young people not wearing masks. And, you know, those are the people that COVID is affecting now, the younger generation. They’re becoming very sick. And it’s never going to go away until we [get vaccinated](https://time.com/collection/coronavirus-vaccines-updates/) and [wear masks](https://time.com/6084432/joe-biden-masks-covid-cdc/).” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6087099/mattel-front-line-workers-amy-osullivan/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6087099/mattel-front-line-workers-amy-osullivan/"},"headline":"Mattel Has Created a Line of Dolls Honoring Frontline Workers, Including Nurse Amy O'Sullivan Who Appeared on the Cover of TIME","datePublished":"2021-08-04T04:05:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:42:29.775Z","description":"Mattel has created six frontline worker dolls modeled on real-life doctors and nurses, including TIME100 cover subject Amy O'Sullivan of Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn.","url":"https://time.com/6087099/mattel-front-line-workers-amy-osullivan/","keywords":["COVID-19"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0909ecb912d43103/698a1b9a929fad2fd1bf78eb/amy-osullivan-doll-mattel-trypich-update.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0909ecb912d43103/698a1b9a929fad2fd1bf78eb/amy-osullivan-doll-mattel-trypich-update.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"amy-osullivan-doll-mattel-trypich-update","caption":"Nurse Amy O'Sullivan Mattel Doll","creditText":"Courtesy Mattel","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/covid-19/","name":"COVID-19"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6087099/mattel-front-line-workers-amy-osullivan/","name":"Mattel Has Created a Line of Dolls Honoring Frontline Workers, Including Nurse Amy O'Sullivan Who Appeared on the Cover of TIME"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"TIME100 | Amy O' Sullivan","description":"Amy O'Sullivan is a nurse on the front lines battling Covid-19 and she is on the 2020 TIME100 list","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/xwgXNky5/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2020-09-23T01:35:48.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/xwgXNky5.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/6087099/mattel-front-line-workers-amy-osullivan/","duration":"PT1M45S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/6087099/mattel-front-line-workers-amy-osullivan/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```