Christine Cardenas is a student at Wayne State University who, like several classmates, is without health insurance. She works at Macy’s department store, but doesn’t earn enough to pay her tuition and living expenses and afford the health policy the store offers its employees. While she’s healthy, other uninsured classmates have not been so fortunate. One of her friends endured an abscessed tooth for three weeks before going to a hospital emergency facility because he couldn’t find a dentist who would treat him. A socially conscious student, Christine is amazed and appalled that a country such as Trinidad, her father’s homeland, could provide universal coverage for its citizens – many of them poor – and not the United States. Christine, who hopes to find a job in industrial engineering that will provide health insurance, is president of the Wayne State chapter of Students for Choice, which advocates for the interconnection of reproductive issues and other women’s health issues.

Photo: Donna Terek