Experience the Walk Tweet-by-Tweet

This is the consolidated Twitterfeed from the Walk (Hyperlinked, downloadable & chronological)
(Use the button in the upper right-hand corner to toggle to full-screen mode)

Flickr map of the Walk - the journey, the people & the stories

See: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41448703@N02/map/

This is a work in progress. A more complete and embedded version will be available soon.

Flickr only shows the last 20 pictures uploaded. Scroll the picture bar at the bottom of the screen to pick up more locations on map. Click on a picture (videos also included) to see more details.

For collections of picture (by Week of the Walk, by Day, by State, People/Scenery, Event, etc.) go to the Flickr Photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41448703@N02/collections/.

Again: this is still a work in progress - pictures are being uploaded, geographic locations placed (estimated in the case of pictures taken with a non-GPS enabled Treo), descriptions & stories being added.

Note that stories submitted to the Facebook group are also being placed on the Flickr Photostream map. We hope to populate this as the Facebook group already has more than 1,700 members as of August 15th.

"Share Your Story" event at Bar Celona in Chicago, Thursday 8-20

Chicago "Share Your Story" event 8-20

Write to the White House!

Feel free to copy & paste (and edit as you like) the following to send to the White House using the link http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.

Dear President Obama,

I believe true healthcare reform is of critical importance to the nation. Healthcare for all is a matter of human rights, human dignity, and economic security.

Earlier this summer, my friend, Dr. Ogan Gurel, walked from Chicago to Washington, DC in support of healthcare reform. Trekking largely along the Lincoln Highway route in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania, and then heading down through Maryland to Washington DC, he gathered real stories from real people. These have been published on the blog for the Walk (http://walk4healthcare.org/) and you may also find them on Scribd at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/19228734/Stories-from-the-Walk-Compact-Edition.

I think you will agree that that the “Voice of the People” must prevail in this healthcare reform debate and that it is important for your office to acknowledge the Walk, not only as a remarkable statement of support for healthcare reform (no lobbyists have been seen initiating such a formidable accomplishment), but specifically because these stories paint a picture, as Dr. Gurel calls it, of a “national catastrophe,” that deserves to be heard much more forcefully than the plaintive pleas of lobbyists intent upon preserving their piece of the healthcare money pot. The voice of the people must be at the forefront of this debate.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

XXXXX

or call/fax:

Tel: 202-456-1414
Fax: 202-456-2461


Thank you!

The Voice of the People

The Walk (Chicago to DC) is done but the Journey has just begun. What is most important in this healthcare reform debate, indeed what holds the key to our democracy, is the voice of the people. The Walk, in addition to making a statement about the urgent need for healthcare provided a unique opportunity to gather real stories from real people along the way. I met with hundreds of people: with insurance, without insurance, Democrats, Republications, liberals, conservatives, indigent, middle-class, wealthy—the full spectrum of Americans along a route that took me through six 'Swing' states.

The stories are interspersed in this blog but for easier access they have also been placed in the 'sidebar' to the right. These include written dispatches as well as videos which can also be found on the Walk's YouTube channel. I continue to upload these stories so visit here often for updates.

I am deeply obliged to those who have shared with me their heartrending stores, otherwise private. They opened up to me out of both a desire that these stories would be heard and out of a frustration that among the raging cacophany of corporate interests they, their voices, were not being heard. Out of this obligation, privilege really, I encourage you to read/view these stories and share them with your friends and, most importantly, with your lawmakers, local and national.

The voice of the people must be heard.

The Walk, the Fight, Continues (Email to the Facebook group for the Walk)

This is an email sent to the Facebook group for the Walk. Click here to join the group.

Greetings from Chicago! While the Walk was a great success—I arrived in DC in one piece, met hundreds of people and gathered their stories, and have already met with several Congressional staffers—the journey has only begun. The special interests are fighting healthcare reform to the death (literally) and you can see the results (or more precisely non-results) in Congress. I met with Dennis Kucinich personally on Tuesday and he immediately recognized the value of the Walk and its message of the “Voice of the People.” He will be publishing an official notice in the Congressional Record urging all his fellow members of Congress to read the stories being posted up on the blog http://walk4healthcare.org/.

But the fight has just begun. I am driving (not walking) back to DC early Thursday morning where I will be speaking later that afternoon at the large Healthcare-Now! rally (http://www.healthcare-now.org/campaigns/single-payer-rally/) along with dozens of other distinguished speakers.

If you can, please attend the rally! This is too important an issue—an issue that crosses both human rights and economic security—to sit in the comfort of one’s home. Please invite everyone you know to the event (and this Facebook group). Please support the Walk For Healthcare which now continues its trek in a multitude of ways to bring the voice of the people back into our government.

Here are some words that kept me going through the Walk leading up to its conclusion on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, as I listened to Aaron Copeland’s Lincoln Portrait on the iPod.

“That from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

That says it all.

Thank you again for all your continued support,

Ogan

ogan@walk4healthcare.org

Huffington Post: "One Doctor Goes To Great Lengths For Universal Health Insurance"

Click here for Sarah Lovinger's article about the Walk in the Huffington Post.

"Some people will do anything to advance the cause of universal health care in the United States. One dedicated doctor with blisters and sore muscles just completed a rather long walk for the cause--700 miles long. … "

Click here for the full article.