The Waiting Room-Peter Nicks with Scott Cluthe on P I

Scott Cluthe interviews Director Peter Nicks about his just released moving documentary The Waiting Room. Mr. Nicks is in Houston for a release screening of his powerful public health film shot at an emergency room in Oakland, Ca. Call in with questions to 347-308-8478.

The Waiting Room is a feature-length immersive documentary film that uses unprecedented access to go behind the doors of Oakland’s Highland Hospital, a safety-net hospital fighting for survival while weathering the storm of a persistent economic downturn. Stretched to the breaking point, Highland is the primary care facility for 250,000 patients of nearly every nationality, race, and religion, with 250 patients – most of them uninsured – crowding its emergency room every day.

Using a blend of cinema verité and characters’ voiceover, the film offers a raw, intimate, and often uplifting look at how patients, staff and caregivers cope with disease, bureaucracy, frustration, hope and hard choices during one typically hectic day.