April 1994 marked the first annual Nurses' Ball, a fundraiser for HIV and AIDS awareness both within the storyline and in real life. Lucy Coe, played by Lynn Herring, founded the event. There was significant social impact, one reason being the current status of the disease. Herring recalled in a 2001 interview with "USA Today", "Looking back on the early days of the Nurses Ball, we all remember what it was like for people with HIV or AIDS in the early '90s, and it wasn't very encouraging. We all knew people who had died or were dying from the disease, the days before protease inhibitors and anti-viral 'cocktails' compassion was about all we had to offer, but it was sometimes in short supply." The story featured the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt, as well as coincided with the Day of Compassion, an annual day where all participating soap operas featured HIV or AIDS related topics.