Donna Smith, from Michael Moore’s SICKO, set to speak at MCH Conference
Donna Smith is a health care activist who has first-hand experience with homelessness. We are thrilled to welcome her to the MN Coalition for the Homeless Annual Conference set for Sept 29-30 at the Minneapolis Hilton. Donna’s work and example will provide inspiration both for national health care reform and for advocates in Minnesota working to restore General Assistance Medical Care.
“We are filmed moving into our daughter’s small storage room. And you see our youngest son confronting us about our situation. He asks us: “What Do We Do With People Like You?”
Well, after visiting 28 states and the District of Columbia this year speaking about healthcare reform, I can finally answer him.
We give people like me healthcare — always and freely.
We give people like me warm shelter and food.
We give people like me credit for having as brain and will power that did not break but enduring a system that did.
We give people like me the dignity to choose what they will do next in life with the tools we can together provide and that are given with joy.
We give people like me a voice — the way Michael Moore did for me and U.S. Rep. John Conyers, author of the National Health Insurance Act, HR676, did for me when he had me testify before a sub-committee in Congress, or the way the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee wrapped us in decency and welcomed us into their fight for single payer healthcare for all — and the way a civilized people do for one another.
We embrace people like me in the fight for a better nation — people like me are the people who built this nation and we are the people who will rebuild it into a more just and peaceful and compassionate society once again.
We will include people like me and we will call one another to task when any one of us is excluded — people like me are people like you.”
Excerpt from Donna’s speech delivered in Phoenix, AZ for the National Health Care for the Homeless Conference (http://americanpatientsunited.org/?p=19)
