Alana Cahill shifted Grey’s Anatomy’ s status quo and saved

the hospital in a crucial moment. She brought tension and change

to Seattle Grace, pushing the doctors to think differently despite

only appearing in five episodes.
Alana’s actions impacted the hospital’s future, indirectly leading to significant changes and improvements.
What do Mandy Moore, Geena Davis, and Elizabeth Moss have in common? These talented celebrities are part of an extensive list of guest stars that have graced the halls of the former Seattle Grace and now Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital. Grey’s Anatomy – now entering its 20th season – is characterized by having known faces for single or multi-episode arcs. And, whether they’re doctors or patients, whenever they visit the hospital, they’re bound to leave a mark. Though the obvious choice of the series’ best guest star would be Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s gut-punching Denny Duquette, this might be true when talking about emotional impact. But when talking about someone who had a lasting impact in the course of the hospital’s history and the lives of our favorite doctors, another presence entered the scene briefly and caused ripples that can still be felt in the show.

Following the debacle of the plane crash, Seattle Grace Mercy West had to pay the settlements of the doctors involved, leaving it on the verge of financial ruin. Halfway through Season 9, Constance Zimmer’s Alana Cahill was brought in as a physician advisor to help save the hospital. Her strategies to make it efficient and attractive to potential investors put everyone on edge. And though, in the end, she wasn’t responsible for rescuing it, her presence took everyone out of their comfort zones as they scrambled for possible solutions. Zimmer’s total episode count as Alana is just five episodes, but that was enough to shift the show’s status quo with a much-needed refresher it needed at the time.

Greys Anatomy TV Show Poster
Grey’s Anatomy
A drama centered on the personal and professional lives of five surgical interns and their supervisors.

Alana Cahill is a Layered Character in ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
When Owen (Kevin McKidd) informs the staff about Alana, she’s not there to be introduced, apparently for being late. But that isn’t the case since Alana enters the scene disguising herself as an E.R. patient who had been waiting 45 minutes to be taken care of. Doing this to prove the system’s inefficiency, it’s clear from the start she’s there to look at every defect the hospital has. When Alana starts not only observing but also questioning the doctors’ surgeries, tensions and friction arise. At one point, she comes off as antagonistic and ruthless, but – as she says once and again – she’s there only to help them stay afloat.

With the goal of bringing in Pegasus, a corporation willing to inject the cash flow needed, she envisions how the hospital can become attractive – with one proposed solution being the elimination of the E.R. After Alana is revealed to have been one of Richard’s (James Pickens Jr.) students, the layers start peeling on how and why she’s an advisor now – she stopped operating after choking at a surgery. An emergency patient at Seattle Grace forces her to take up the scalpel again, with a positive outcome. This, in turn, proves Owen’s point that the E.R. is essential and a vital part of what the hospital stands for. They develop one of the most engaging professional dynamics in Grey’s Anatomy, in which she trusts him as a leader, and he knows she has what it takes to close the deal.

Alana Cahill Turns the World Upside Down for the Doctors of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’
Constance Zimmer in Grey’s Anatomy as Alana Cahill
Image via ABC Studios
The case-of-the-week formula that the show follows regularly shifts with the arrival of Alana. With the doctors of Seattle Grace feeling forced to think outside the box and find solutions by themselves, their relationships are pushed to the limit. The proposal of closing the E.R. brings another Derek (Patrick Dempsey) and April (Sarah Drew) team up in trying to find ways of cutting costs to avoid the shutdown. Richard and Callie (Sara Ramirez) embark on a road trip to another of Pegasus’ facilities to find out what their deal is. Derek and April’s strategies prove futile when Alana reveals Pegasus requires the hospital not to have an E.R. to be eligible for buying. Richard and Callie prove this to be true while also discovering that Pegasus doesn’t pursue research, only surgery quotas, because they see health care solely as a business.

This causes what can be considered one of the strongest moments in the show – the doctors’ conspiracy to buy the hospital. To avoid a conflict of interest, they have to keep it secret from Owen because, as Chief of Surgery, he’s obligated to report everything to Alana. The conspiracy makes everyone show their true colors – Derek and Callie as the ambitious masterminds, Arizona (Jessica Capshaw) as the caring mother asking if using Mark’s (Eric Dane) share would be the best for their daughter Sophia, Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) as the mediator who has to ask her father for Lexie’s (Chyler Leigh) share, and Cristina (Sandra Oh) doubting if they have what it takes to run a hospital. The team goes to the length of resigning from the hospital to make it less attractive for Pegasus and sabotage the sale.

The Impact of Alana Cahill’s Time on ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Can Still Be Felt
While Alana’s intentions are for the common good, the sabotaging makes her end up in the worst scenario – accepting the Pegasus buyout, but with their terms changing to selling the hospital’s assets and laying off the staff. Alana is empathetic, but knowing their fate, she can’t bring herself to tell them, not even Owen. The doctors have the final say when sabotaging the purchase for a second time, finding a funding partner in none other than Catherine (Debbie Allen) and the Harper Avery Foundation. After this happens, Alana isn’t seen or heard of again.

The purchase ignites the paths that have been followed in later seasons of Grey’s Anatomy. With Jackson (Jesse Williams) appointed as a representative of the foundation at the board, his meteoric rise starts, spanning a seasons-long development that ends with him running the now-renamed Catherine Fox Foundation. The pressure of board responsibilities gets to Cristina, indirectly provoking her split with Owen and eventual departure to pursue a job opportunity in Switzerland. This, in turn, makes way for the introduction of Maggie (Kelly McCreary) as the new Head of Cardiothoracic Surgery. But perhaps the most important change came in the form of a simple renaming. Honoring those lost in the accident that snowballed this situation, Seattle Grace Mercy West became Grey Sloan Memorial, which has been the hospital’s name for more than ten years now.

Alana wasn’t there for all the changes that came after the purchase, but if she hadn’t been there to kickstart the movement, the hospital and the show would not be what they are today. She is directly responsible for a simple operative change – the transition from clipboards to tablets. But she’s indirectly responsible for the avalanche of events that followed. Alana stands as a reminder of the shakiest times the hospital has seen, and though she ultimately failed to save it, her actions impacted in a way that changed the lives of the doctors and the shape of the hospital forever.

Grey’s Anatomy Season 1-19 can now be streamed on Hulu. Season 20 premieres on ABC on March 14 and streams the next day on its new home.