We gone be up here all day. We have a long wait.

May 21, 2012 2:29 PM

One Hospital | Hundreds of Stories. A YouTube Playlist. Experience a day in the life of a public hospital (Highland Hospital) in Oakland, CA at a moment of profound change to the nation's economy and its healthcare system.

"How would the patients in the waiting room at Highland Hospital respond to President George W. Bush’s statement, echoed by many others, that we already have universal health care in this country because, by law, nobody can be turned away from an emergency room for lack of ability to pay? " The filming took place for 5 months in 2010.

posted by cashman (6 comments total)

I have great respect for the folks who work in the emergency room at Highland. In 2006, I was in a bad car accident (crushed vertibra, concussion). Despite the fact that they kept having to go on "lock down" at regular intervals--they took great care of me. I was barely aware of all that went on but my Mom and sister-in-law got a first hand look at their grace and kindness amid the chaos and craziness.
posted by agatha_magatha at 2:50 PM on May 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

This is a great project. It's good to see a post about it here.
posted by iamkimiam at 3:39 PM on May 21, 2012

If Bush had ever spent a Saturday night at Highland, he would never have uttered such stupid words. Emergency room care is just that, immediate care to take care of a crisis. It's not health care. A person without insurance who needs ongoing or follow-up care doesn't magically get healthcare by going to an ER. You get stabilized and moved on out.

I've been an uninsured person with asthma. Treating asthma by going to the ER is the worst possible strategy for managing such a chronic illness. I'd get a new inhaler with no refills and when that ran out, I'd end up back at the ER.

I had a friend who did her residency at Highland. She liked it for being a real community hospital that provided care for a lot of people that had no place else to go. She also thought it was a good hospital even if there were other places to go.
posted by shoesietart at 3:56 PM on May 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

I find it ironic that my taxes are supposed to pay for the education of other people's children, while they fight, bitch, moan, and fearmonger about socialism, because I want a very small fraction of what I pay for their kid's education spent to help start a system that guarantees access to affordable healthcare... something that many employers for so-called "good" jobs are refusing to give their workers lately.
posted by markkraft at 4:44 PM on May 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

I just saw this and it's bedtime. It looks amazing and I'll have to explore later, if I can take the frustration. I only wish it had been out there and highly visible during the first round of healthcare debates...but maybe it will be for the next one.
posted by Miko at 7:51 PM on May 21, 2012 [2 favorites]

Thanks for this post!
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 2:04 AM on May 22, 2012 [1 favorite]