Will's Health Story | Community Health Documentary
"Rate my health from one to 10? My health is a zero." Will, 53, of New Orleans, was a shipyard welder until a heart attack took his job — and his story puts a human face on the social determinants of health: choosing between food and insulin, living on in a month what he once earned in a week, and pushing forward every day anyway.
Produced for Humana's community health work, this short documentary profile is built on a single, unflinching interview. We kept the production spare on purpose: when the subject is this honest, the filmmaker's job is to get out of the way.
About This Project
Client: Humana
Type: Community Health Documentary Profile
Location: New Orleans, LA
Services: Documentary interview production, field production, editing
Louisville's Best Healthcare Video Production Company
John Flower Productions has produced community health storytelling for Humana and other national health brands since 2007. Ready to talk about your next project? Contact us.
Video Transcript:
My name is Will. I'm 53 years old, and I'm from New Orleans, Louisiana. Rate my health from one to 10? My health is a zero.
In 2010, I had a really good job at Avondale Shipyards. I was working as an outfitter and welder. I had a major heart attack. I had open heart surgery and a quadruple bypass — and lost my job. I suffer chronic pain in my chest. I have actually been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, because in 1985, I was shot in an armed robbery. I take Prozac, Percocet, Gabapentin, TriCor, Prilosec, Lantus insulin.
In 2010, I was earning $1,100 a week. Today, I get $1,100 for a month. Sometimes I have to choose between whether I'm going to eat or whether I'm going to get my insulin, or if I'm going to get my high blood pressure medication. There's nothing out there to help people like me — people that are disabled. But I'm pushing myself forward every day.
Actually, Wolfgang, it feels good right where you got your leg — right down the side of the steel plates. Huh, buddy.