Rachel's Reaction

by Rachel

Today I got to go with the TCOM crew to film our first interview in Indy with Dr. John Walker, a family practitioner. I really didn't know what to expect, but I was excited to finally be a part of something dealing with the documentary instead of making phone calls and schedules for the assembly. I have to say, Laura, Jordan, Josh, and Zack have to be some of the calmest people I have ever met! Somehow we managed to forget an entire bag of equipment that contained more lights, umbrellas, and most importantly, camera batteries. We ended up having enough lights, but because we didn't have an extra battery, we were down to one camera. Had that been me, I would have been flipping out. I wouldn't have necessarily shown it, but on the inside I would have been saying many expletives. Perhaps they were doing just that, but they all remained calm and composed, and they seemed to make it work just fine with one camera. Needless to say, I was impressed.

Aside from getting to see the more technical side of things, I was really interested to hear what Dr. Walker had to say. He definitely had a lot of thoughts on the healthcare system, and I was especially impressed and surprised at all the statistics he could reel off not on only on the United States, but on other countries' healthcare systems as well. While he had a lot of great things to say, there was one particular thing that shocked me. Laura asked him something along the lines of what he could do to make a change in our system, which he definitely thinks is broken. He said that he would probably never get involved in the politics of things, even if it were just to write a letter to his representative. he said the most he could do was talk to his patients and get the conversation started. I was so disappointed in that answer. I understand that not everyone is as politically active as me, but as a doctor I believe Dr. Walker could really catch the attention of a politician. After all, doctors are the only people who day-in-day-out have to put up with the problems in our healthcare system. They can provide an insight that no one else can, and I believe if we are going to change our system, then doctors really need to speak up. I look forward to going on more interviews with doctors to see if Dr. Walker's response is typical, or if other doctors are willing to get more involved. Until next time...