Hillsborough Doctor's Crazy Pants, Brings Smiles To RWJ Somerset

HILLSBOROUGH, NJ — Hillsborough resident Dr. Marc Milano has been sporting a different pair of crazy and funky leggings everyday for the past four weeks to help bring smiles to the staff and patients at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset amid the new coronavirus pandemic.

Milano has served as Chairman to the Emergency Department for the past 12 years. However, dealing with the coronavirus has brought on an increasing amount of difficult cases and situations and in turn is increasing the amount of stress to the staff.

About four weeks ago, Milano saw a box full of donated bright crazy spandex leggings in the break room and that's what sparked his idea.

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"I decided to do something crazy and wore the bright pants over my scrubs and walked nonchalantly through the emergency department and you could immediately feel the tension lifted and dissipated," Milano said.

Milano started to order multiple pairs of crazy leggings at a time on Amazon and would come into work every day with a different pair.

"It lifted everyone's spirits instantaneously," Milano said.

The craze of fun pants caught on immediately and the entire hospital staff sported crazy pants, socks and surgical caps on Friday as part of Spirit Day.

"It was amazing to see a sea of brightly colored people walking around and smiling at each other," Milano said.

With much success on Spirit Day, Milano has extended that to have crazy clothes day every Friday for his emergency department staff.

"I would never have done this before but we are living in an unprecedented time which calls for unprecedented action on my part," Milano said.

Along with lifting the spirits of staff, Milano noted how patients are also getting a kick out of the crazy clothing.

"It's not just about getting a smile out of patients, but I've always believed laughter is the best medicine," Milano said. "This has definitely lifted the spirit and mentality of staff and patients."

You can follow Milano's crazy pants journey with the hashtag #pantsthevirus and even vote on which pair of pants Milano will wear next on his facebook.com/marc.milano.5851 and instagram.com/jerseyerdoc pages.

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