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NewsBriefs:October 2007 11/16/07 2:14 PM Page 9 TAKING THE SICKO CURE TO THE PEOPLE ometimes it just feels great to meet people from far and wide who are fighting for the same things you're fighting for. That's the sense I got as I and four other healthcare advocates scrambled onto a handpainted school bus Nov. 12 to embark on a tour of the United States to promote singlepayer universal healthcare as part of the Healthcare-Now SiCKO Cure National Road Show. The road show is also cosponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee. First stop: Indiana. From a warm and friendly Steelworkers Union Hall in Gary to a packed auditorium at Indiana State University in Terre Haute and on to a Courthouse Square rally in Bloomington, Indiana opened its heart us. At each stop, we met with local healthcare activists and planned events to stir up hope and new strategies for passing HR 676, the federal bill authored by Rep. John Conyers and cosponsored by 86 other members of Congress that would establish a national single-payer healthcare system. At each town, the five of us met with Congressional representatives or their staff to bolster efforts by local constituents who want their government leaders on board with the bill. In Gary, Steve Skvara of District 7 United Steelworkers joined a group of fellow union members, retirees, and families watching a special SiCKO screening. Registered nurses from the Chicago chapter of CNA/NNOC also traveled to Gary to join in the viewing. team during the making of the Like so many Americans, Karen Stone of film, and many were interested Skvara struggles with providing Hoosiers for a in the presentation given on Hr healthcare coverage for his wife Commonsense 676 by Olivia Boy kins, special since his retirement and the Health Plan holds assistant to Conyers. slashing of his benefits. You might her protest sign And in Bloomington, local remember him from the question during the SiCKO leaders of Hoosiers for a Comhe asked of the Democratic pres- Cure National Road monsense Health Plan staged a idential candidates during an Show rally in rally on the steps of Courthouse August debate held in Chicago. Bloomington, Ind. Square. There was musical en "What's wrong in America and what will you do to fix it?" Skvara asked the tertainment, and single-payer supporters spoke, such as Dr. Rob Stone, who is a local candidates. In Terre Haute, a packed auditorium of emergency room physician and a member of Indiana State University students and com- Physicians for a National Health Program. From town to town, local people gathered munity members viewed SiCKO and carried on a lively question-and-answer session to tell their healthcare stories and learn about afterward. Several wanted to know about my the road show and HR 676. It is truly incredexperiences in Cuba with the Michael Moore ible to see the generosity of spirit and the S NOVEMBER 2007 W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G strong support for single-payer from such a wide variety of citizens in middle America. In the blowing wind and dropping temperatures in Bloomington, a woman in a motorized wheelchair came to the microphone and spoke about her everyday health challenges trying to gain access to specialists, waiting for approval from her insurance carrier, and ultimately still getting only minimal care. I told her I would carry her spirit along with us as we hit a total of 22 Congressional districts on our tour, passing through Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, West Virginia, and into Pennsylvania where the show wraps up in Pittsburgh on Dec. 14. —donna smith REGISTERED NURSE 9