The Waiting Room

A young man sits in the waiting room of Oakland’s Highland Hospital. His tumour needs immediate attention, but he has no medical insurance. And it’s the same story for most of those that seek help here – from managers to asylum seekers – everyday they fill the waiting room of this, the only public health facility for miles around, to bursting point. THE WAITING ROOM not only documents the hopes and fears of those in the waiting room, but also peeks over the shoulders of the caregivers that work there. The staff works under immense pressure to keep the place running, fulfil their responsibilities and function in an overloaded system. Every day the waiting room finds staff and patients stretched to their limits. In his online project that accompanies the film; director Peter Nicks collected stories, videos and images of people in the waiting room and, in this exemplary fashion, documents the workings and the striking flaws in the American health system.