When social worker Deborah Allman was asked if she would like to appear in a documentary about Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) emergency department, she was initially a little hesitant.

“But I eventually agreed to do it because I thought that it would be really important to show the interaction between doctors, nurses, social workers and all the other members of the health care team,” she explains. “To show how we support each other, and the patients and the patients’ families – I really wanted to help represent that side of the story.”

Starting on January 21^st, the Knowledge Network will air the six-episode documentary titled Emergency Room: Life and Death at VGH every Tuesday at 9 pm. The series is a behind-the-scenes look at the dedicated VCH staff who work in VGH’s emergency department and the incredible work they do every day.

Looking back, Deborah says that the experience was “enriching,” giving her an opportunity to reflect on her work and to appreciate her colleagues even more than she already does.

“When you have people watching what you do and asking questions about what you do, it causes you to reflect on why you do what you do,” she says about the filming process. “Having the filmmaker right there, asking me to explain what I do as a social worker, gave me the opportunity to think more about my role, and the clinical choices that I make every day.”

A celebration of health care

She says it’s a celebration of the hard work health care professionals do.

“It was really interesting to see the first few episodes of the documentary, which I got to screen in advance,” she continues, “I was able to sit back and observe my colleagues doing their piece of the work, and that’s something I often don’t get to see when I am working alongside them. It really increases your appreciation for the rest of the team.”

“We always talk about working in teams in health care, but watching the show I saw in a new way how we truly are a team and everybody really does have an important role – some roles are more visible than others, but everyone does something to keep it going.”

She hopes that the public – the viewers – will also gain a greater appreciation for the challenges facing emergency departments, “demystifying” that part of health care and hopefully bringing some attention to social issues like health care funding or problems for marginalized people.

“I’ll be very curious to hear from people who don’t work in health care what they get from seeing it,” she says. “Will it give them more of an idea of what happens here? Will it make them more at ease when they come to hospital? Will seeing it make them feel like more part of their own health-care experience?”

For more information on the series, go to the Knowledge Network’s website.