The Waiting Room

Last Saturday, I headed to Cinematheque to check out The Waiting Room, a documentary that takes you through a day in the emergency room in a US public hospital.  As you may expect, it gets a little crazy and the film introduces us to some unbelievable people.  Most importantly, there is no narrative during the film.  The director tells his story with images only and I feel that is important when focusing on such a highly politicized issue as the US healthcare system.

As I mentioned, the film has some very interesting people in it.  No more so than a female triage nurse who is featured throughout the documentary.  Her spirit and energy in a place where many people are down and out is truly inspirational to watch.  She has this demeanor about her that is infectious and she manages to keep a smile on her face throughout what seems like a 12 hour (or more) shift.

The film also follows patients who wait hours upon hours before they're able to see a doctor.  We meet a carpet layer in his 50's who suffers from chronic back pain, a young man who's waiting to get a testicular tumor removed, and a young girl who has a bad case of strep throat.

Overall, the film does a good job of showing the inner workings of an emergency room; showing us both the frustrated public in the waiting room and the behind-the-scenes stuff like doctors and nurses chatting together- trying to shift patients around to different rooms to accommodate the people anxiously waiting.  I don't think the film offers anything new to the general public.  We all know that waiting times are ridiculous in ER's (both in Canada and the US) and that the US system is a failed one - with so many people without insurance and unable to get the care they need, and deserve.  What the film does accomplish though, for me anyway, is a reminder that there are in fact wonderful people working in the ER and they do the best they can to provide service to those in need.  Unfortunately, they are often stuck behind policies that they must oblige by.  The film also reminded me of how lucky we are here in Canada to have the system that we do.  While not perfect, it still beats paying for healthcare.