Director Peter Nicks will visit the University of Iowa campus on April 9 for a free, public screening of his film The Waiting Room, a character-driven documentary that captures the raw reality of the uninsured patients and doctors and staff at Highland Hospital, a safety-net hospital in Oakland, Calif.

The screening, sponsored by the UI's Public Policy Center (PPC), takes place at 7 p.m. in the HNI Auditorium of the Pomerantz Center. Following the screening, Nicks will engage in a question-and-answer discussion with Ben Kieffer, host of Iowa Public Radio’s River to River and Java Blend.

“The Public Policy Center is very excited to be able to combine an arts event with a very relevant policy discussion with the director and producer of the documentary,” says Peter Damiano, the PPC's director.

In the trailer, viewers see images of frustrated staff trying to navigate the chaos of the emergency room and its overflow of patients. Douglas White, a resident at Highland Hospital, explains the hospital's role: “We’re a public hospital. We’re the safety net of society. We’re the institution of last resort for so many people.”

Nicks said he got the idea for the documentary from his wife, a speech pathologist at the hospital. She often told him about her experience with patients' struggles and resilience in the health-care system. "As the contentious vote for health care reform got louder, it occurred to me that the people who were not participating in the debate were the very people we were fighting over: those stuck in waiting rooms at underfunded public hospitals all over the country,” Nicks says.

Damiano agrees. “[This film] allows interdisciplinary collaboration across campus and the Iowa community about a critical health policy issue,” he says.

For Nicks, the film "is a story and a symbol of our national community and how our common vulnerability to illness binds us together as humans,” he says.

Co-sponsors of the event include FilmScene and the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine and the Office of Cultural Affairs & Diversity Initiatives; Center for Human Rights; Chief Diversity Office; College of Dentistry & Dental Clinics and Department of Preventive & Community Dentistry; College of Public Health and Department of Health Management & Policy; Department of Communications Studies; Department of Emergency Medicine; Department of Sociology; Gender, Women's & Sexuality Studies; Injury Prevention Research Center; Institute for Cinema and Culture; International Programs; KRUI; Obermann Center for Advanced Studies; Office of the President; Public Policy Center; and School of Journalism & Mass Communication.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires an accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact the PPC's Community Engagement Coordinator, Liz Watson, at elizabeth-m-watson@uiowa.edu or 319-335-6817.