In the mid-1980s, a simple number and letter designated a ward on the fifth floor of San Francisco General Hospital, the first in the country designed specifically to treat AIDS patients.

5B is the inspirational story of everyday heroes, the nurses and caregivers who took extraordinary action to comfort, protect, and care for the patients of the first AIDS ward unit in the United States. 5B is stirringly told through first-person testimony of these nurses and caregivers who built Ward 5B in 1983 at San Francisco General Hospital, their patients, loved ones, and staff who volunteered to create care practices based in humanity and holistic well-being during a time of great fear and uncertainty. The result is an uplifting yet candid and bittersweet monument to a pivotal moment in American history and a celebration of quiet heroes, nurses and caregivers worthy of remembrance and renewed recognition.

In the 1980s, a new disease ravaged the United States, specifically targeting the gay communities that had spent the decades prior demanding a place in mainstream society. Originally manifesting as an obscure form of cancer, it was eventually understood as an autoimmune disease and given a name: HIV/AIDS.

A nationwide panic followed, and those infected often found themselves subjected to violent abuse as discussion of the disease was inextricably bound up in discussions of homosexuality and homophobia itself. Compounded by the inaction of a federal government that refused to even publicly acknowledge the disease until almost 20,000 people had already died, the disease tore apart gay communities and left a tragic mark on the country that endures to this day. It was at once a national health crisis and a political firestorm that influenced the American discourse on topics as far-ranging as immigration, healthcare policy, and freedom of speech.

In the first episode of “Grey’s Anatomy,” surgical resident Alex Karev levels the worst insult he can imagine at his colleague Meredith Grey: “nurse.” This is far from an isolated incident; nurses are often portrayed as low-skilled lackeys, alternately butts of jokes or objects of disdain.

The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Every day, nurses perform life-saving services, from scrutinizing symptoms to advocating for patients, and provide critical medical care with insight and compassion. They’re the unsung, underappreciated heroes of the medical world, and their reputation needed a serious rehabilitation.

Enter 5B, a film that explicitly recognizes a group of extraordinary nurses who showcased the remarkable dedication and expertise nurses bring to their craft and transformed how institutions around the world approach patient care.

Our efforts have already influenced Hollywood as 20th Century Fox licensed portions of recovered archival footage of the ward in the film Bohemian Rhapsody.