Saturday Night at LAC+USC

Our crew sets up the camera for a night of shooting at LAC-USC

Inside the LAC+USC waiting room on what staff refers to as an "unusually slow night."

 LAFD handles all emergency medical services for the city of Los Angeles, and currently 82% of the department's work is medical, rather than fire-related. (Firestorm Documentary, 2010)

Dorothy and Vanessa work to secure the camera to the tri-pod.

Morning at LAC+USC

Cinematographer Dorothy sets up a roof top shot.

LAC-USC is the largest single provider of health care in Los Angeles County, and provides more than 28 percent of the county's trauma care. 

An ambulance enters LAC+USC, often cited as the nation's busiest emergency room and among those with the highest number of uninsured patients. 

Director Vanessa talks to an officer about our project.

 Although he believes that we're not terrorists, we're still told to leave the premises. 

Dear friends,


If anyone has contacts (e.g. doctors, nurses, admin) at any of the major LA hospitals (particularly those with busy emergency rooms) or knows someone who had an especially lengthy wait time in the ER - please leave your name and e-mail in a comment or e-mail Meggan at Meggan.Thompson@usc.edu.


Thanks!

Meet Our Experts!

Dr. Bruce Jansson PhD

 

We’re excited to interview this amazing policy professor and author of The Sixteen Trillion Dollar Mistake: How the U.S. Bungled its National Priorities from FDR to Clinton.  According to his bio, Dr. Jansson is currently working on a sequel, which will call for a debate on forthcoming national priorities as spending on the elderly and medical care threatens to truncate spending for other domestic priorities. He is also beginning a multi-year study regarding the politics of big-city health systems using Los Angeles as the lead example.

You can see his full bio and CV here

Karen Knudsen, RN

Karen Knudsen is the ED manager at Huntington Hospital. 

Huntington Hospital is currently expanding their ER.  Find out more here: HUNTINGTON

Dr. Edward Newton MD

Dr. Newton is Chair and Professor of Clinical Emergency Medicine at LAC+USC.

As department chair, Newton has led 45 full-time USC faculty, 60 voluntary or part-time faculty, and 68 residents, and provided administrative direction to a wide range of Los Angeles County employees working in the Emergency Department at the LAC+USC Medical Center. His term as chair saw the integration of the emergency medicine private practice into the University of Southern California and the transition from the old county facility to the new state-of-the-art Level 1 trauma center. (HSC Weekly) 

Dr. Michael Cousineau

Dr. Michael Cousineau is considered an expert on health care policy and reform for the underserved and uninsured. 

Dr. Cousineau is currently Associate Professor of Research in the Department of Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine at the USC Keck School of Medicine. He directs the USC Center for Community Health Studies and teaches in both the Masters in Public Health program and in the Professionalism and the Practice of Medicine. He has a masters and a doctorate from the UCLA School of Public Health.

What's in a name?

We have come up with an idea for our production company: altruiStiC pictures (logo pending)

However, we're still tossing around possible titles for our documentary film.

Here are a few options:

Overcrowded

Waiting for Help

Hurry Up & Wait: The Causes and Consequences of ER Overcrowding

Hurry Up & Wait: ER overload

Overloaded

Waiting Forever: The Consequences of Hospital Wait Times

Have any ideas? Please share!