Starting this April, a national march for health-care reform will wind its way from Louisiana to Michigan -- and the poster child for the plight of the uninsured will be Eduardo Loredo.
Last weekend, Monique Gabrielle Maes-Salazar, a recent graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City and advocate for the Loredo family, traveled to New Orleans to meet with members of The Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign. The Ohio-based organization, with affiliates across the nation, demands basic services, like housing and health care, for low-income families. For the past several months, the PPEHRC has made Loredo -- and his need for a heart transplant -- a key national campaign.
"Somehow there's supposed to be a pecking order in this country, where some residents are more deserving of life than others," says Cheri Honkola, national organizer for the PPEHRC. "But we're a spiritually motivated people and that's not how we roll. We think everybody should have right to life and right to health care."
If Loredo's situation isn't resolved by April 4, communities from New Orleans to Detroit will recognize the face of the Kansas teen from the banners and T-shirts of the national march.
In the meantime, a handful of local activists have started rolling tape on an amateur documentary, following Eduardo's experiences. Here's the introduction.
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...Let us save a life...he is a child...have you ever asked yourself how many "illegals" have donated their organs to Americans in need of a transplant? I know of many that have died here and donated their organs...should those organs be flown to their native country...some people just want to take and take...but are gone when it is time for them to give!!!
So get out and fight for your rights instead of bitching about someone who is actually trying to do something on an internet forum.
Monique Maes says:
"I don't care about the Republicans."
Well, they're the people who are working against health care reform, so even if you don't care about them you need to fight them. And when your "poster child" is an illegal alien, you're feeding and justifying their worst fears.
I don't care about the Republicans. I'm trying to save a child's life.
If you want to advocate for an American in the same situation, I strongly suggest you do so. I would implore you do to so. As for me, I will keep fighting for Eduardo until he has a new heart.
"the poster child for the plight of the uninsured will be Eduardo Loredo."
Really? The poster child is an illegal alien? Couldn't you find any Americans in the same situation? Having people like this as a "poster child" will only give the republicans more ammo in their fight against health care reform.
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