The Waiting Room

(this post is for a Journalism assignment)
Scared. Helpless. Non-stop. Waiting.

Waiting...that’s what thousands of people every day are forced to do when they set foot in an emergency room. In Oakland, California the Highland Hospital is no exception. One of the first things patients are told when they walk in after being asked what’s wrong is ‘you might be waiting for a long time.’ 

The Waiting Room is a documentary that shows patients and doctors at Highland Hospital. In a 24 hour period, the scene is often chaotic, the atmosphere tense at times. Even though the doctors were positive and trying to stay happy, the patients weren’t always so happy. There was barely any music except at the beginning and end of the documentary. All sound was background noise: crying babies, people talking, and a beeping noise. 

The patient testimonials had a much more deep emotional impact than having a narrator tell the whole story. Listening to the struggles, the pain, and suffering they had to endure was really sad. It seems like there needs to be something done to fix their health care system if people are forced to wait up to twelve hours to see a doctor. Even though the stories were good, I feel as though they could have picked a few different patients to represent what the story was trying to tell. The most intense footage was when the fifteen year old was pronounced dead and there was a shot of his body followed by the stained floor with bandaids. There wasn’t a single noise in the theatre. Having this shot in the room had a much bigger impact than if someone were to narrate it. 

While Canada’s emergency rooms are similar in wait times, we take for granted the fact that we can usually afford what we need. Most of our health care is funded by the government where in America they pay for the services they need. People in Highland Hospital were shown giving pay stubs and EI to prove they needed help to pay for their medical bills. It’s almost sad to see that people who need help really badly can’t always afford it. That proves to be the major difference between Canadian and American health care. The wait times at this hospital seemed to be extreme but sometimes here they are just the same. Urgent and trauma patients have priority even if you’ve been waiting for six or seven hours. Arlene Wilgosh CEO of the WRHA says wait times need to be cut down. Everyone who told their story didn’t have a regular family doctor which is another major difference. Even though in Canada sometimes you need to wait one to three weeks to see your doctor, you still have that option or a walk-in clinic instead of waiting forever in an emergency room. 

It was easy to feel empathy for the patients who were actually sick and needing care. This documentary made me realize that often things like seeing a doctor are things we take for granted, even when we shouldn’t.

http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hcs-sss/index-eng.php