On Sunday, Sept. 20 and Monday, Sept. 21, Dr. Jamie Eng, Eckerd College Class of 1999 alumna who starred in the documentary Code Black, visited to talk to aspiring doctors and those interested in improving America’s health care system. Students were able to hear about anything and everything related to her experiences in the medical field.
Dr. Eng studied Marine Biology at Eckerd College under the mentorship of Dr. Joel Thompson. After Eckerd, Dr. Eng pursued her PhD at the University of Hawaii. After an unsatisfactory experience with a graduate mentor, she participated in bench to bedside research. Dr. Eng then applied to medical school due to the encouragement of her new mentor. While attending Chicago Medical School, Dr. Eng became interested in Emergency Medicine and decided to pursue a residency at LA County & USC Medical Center. Dr. Eng is most widely known for her role in the documentary Code Black. Code Black follows Dr. Eng and the other members of her class around the LA County & USC Medical Center Emergency Room, the busiest ER in the U.S. and as shown in the documentary, the home of the first Department of Emergency Medicine. In Code Black, the doctors of LA County & USC Medical Center struggle to adapt to new HIPAA regulations and deal with what seems to be a perpetual code black (when patients outnumber resources an emergency facility is equipped with).
Dr. Eng and her colleagues struggle to find the most time efficient way to triage patients, treat patients and fill out the mountains of paperwork required for each patient. Code Black raises thought provoking questions about America’s Health Care system including questions regarding, patients’ privacy, lack of funds and class issues. Dr. Eng was kind enough to allow the Eckerd College community to pose some questions evoked by the film to her. During the question and answer period, Dr. Eng made it clear to viewers that the solutions are not as simple as they may seem. For instance, yes, better health education is the answer to many of the problems of the United States’ Health Care system, but the funding for education is a problem of its own. Dr. Eng made it clear that in order to solve a problem, any problem, we must first fully understand the problem and second, we must be willing to invest everything in solving that problem. Code Black is a call to action. How will you respond?