HOSPITAL MUSIC New Yorkers with musical talent and day jobs usually perform in neighborhood pubs, karaoke bars, and rented performance spaces packed with friends.

The circumstances were quite different for three employees of the NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, who performed Wednesday in the ballroom of the Marriott Marquis, with the winner of the 2006 “American Idol” contest, Taylor Hicks, sharing the bill. A thousand business and social leaders such as Sanford Weill, Bruce Ratner, and Charlotte Ford were in the audience,

The medical center’s annual cabaret gala was designed as an “American Idol”- style contest for employees. A talent search judged by Peter Duchin, Mary Rodgers Guettel, and others produced the three finalists: A program assistant at the Tri-Institutional Research Program, Heather Moran; a physician’s assistant at the Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health, Toral Shah, and a registered nurse in oncology, Billy Steeves. Ms. Moran and Mr. Steeves studied at the SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Music, while Ms. Shah had no formal music training. The audience picked Ms. Moran as the winner, but the big winner was the medical center, which raised $2.4 million at the event.

“It’s wonderful to see the benefit integrating members of the staff beyond physicians,” the journal chairwoman, Dr. Patricia Allen — who has worked at the hospital since her training — said.

The trustees had some advice for the performers: Fame can be thrilling, but working in a hospital can be fulfilling in the long term. “It’s a fantastic organization with a lot of depth,” a trustee, Lisa Perry, who has been involved for 20 years with the hospital, said. “My twins were born here. I’ve volunteered in every department: the emergency room, pediatric and adult AIDS,” Ms. Perry said.

“It is so rewarding to see people get better and out of the hospital,” Ms. Ford, who has been a trustee for 27 years, said.

That’s exactly why Mr. Steeves became a nurse. “I love the work that I do,” he said.

* * *

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS The 500 newswomen who were gathered Tuesday at the Waldorf-Astoria had much news to share, but they were silent when the International Women’s Media Foundation distributed its Courage in Journalism Awards to Jill Carroll, a freelance reporter who spent 82 days in captivity in Iraq; May Chidiac, a television broadcaster in Lebanon who lost a hand and a leg in a bomb explosion in her car after she participated in a show examining Syria’s involvement in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri; and Gao Yu, an economic and political reporter who stimulated the free press movement in China – and meanwhile served time in prison for “leaking state secrets” to a Hong Kong newspaper. Much applause followed, including a big hand for the Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Elena Poniatowska, a journalist and author who paid homage to Mexico, where she spent most of her career, by wearing a colorful national costume.

agordon@nysun.com