Elvia Mendez, high school junior and “the Greta Thunberg of Single Payer Healthcare,” leads rally at the Los Angeles district offices of her congress member, Tony Cardenas.
On May 21, 2019, Elvia Mendez, a high school junior at Vaughn International Studies Academy in San Fernando, California, organized a pro-single payer rally outside the Van Nuys Blvd. offices of Congressman Tony Cardenas (29th district).
According to Mendez: Tony Cardenas represents the San Fernando Valley yet hasn’t made any public opinion on Single Payer. We have a lot of families who can classify as low-income, and they should not be scared over high insurance/hospital bills; everyone has the right to live…
Mendez and her fellow students, all juniors, gathered around 3:30 pm on the sidewalk just steps from Cardenas’ district office.
They carried signs that read “Healthcare is a right, not a privilege,” “Healthcare not Wealthcare,” “Single payer now,” and more.
Around 4 pm, the students joined their teacher, Nicole Mohr, and community members including nurses, retirees and healthcare advocates and the rally began.
It all began with a class assignment. Students were asked to find a cause that they believed in and find a way to make a difference.
After attending an American Civil Liberties Union conference at which disparities in health care were discussed, Mendez realized how profoundly people in her own community were impacted. The topic resonated with her, and so she chose to champion single payer healthcare. When she learned that her representative, Tony Cardenas, had not cosponsored HR 1384, the Medicare for All Act of 2019 (Jayapal), she decided to organize a rally at his district offices.
She recruited other students to join her with a simple Facebook post:
Hey everyone! A few fellow juniors and I will be hosting a rally in order to get Tony Cardenas to Support Single Payer Healthcare! We would love for anyone to join us, but if not please do share!! Thank you and hope to see you there.
Mendez’ teacher, Nicole Mohr, suggested she amplify the action by reaching out to single payer supporters in the community.
Mendez searched on Facebook and found Betty Doumas-Toto, a San Fernando Valley business owner and active single payer supporter. She is a member of a local chapter of Health Care for All, and serves on the healthcare committee for Americans for Democratic Action, Southern California.
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Doumas-Toto was inspired by Mendez. She sent emails to scores of people saying: “I want to fully support this young lady in her hopefully burgeoning activism. I am spreading the word about her event in the hopes to help build up attendance.”
Calling Mendez “the Greta Thunberg of Single Payer Healthcare,” she invited a wide range of pro-single-payer groups to support her, including National Nurses United, Progressive Democrats of America, Single-Minded for Single Payer, Healthcare is a Human Right, Los Angeles for Bernie Sanders and more.
As a result, over 20 people joined the students at the rush hour sidewalk action, chanting and waving signs as drivers sped by honking loudly to show their support.
Around 4:30 pm, the students, accompanied by many community supporters, approached Cardenas’ office but found the staff had locked the doors.
As the group stood awkwardly on the balcony outside the offices, negotiations took place over the next half hour between the staffers in the office and the students outside.
Ultimately the staffers agreed to allow three students into the offices, including Elvia Mendez, as long as everyone else left the balcony.
According to Mendez, the staffers assured her that Cardenas was a supporter of universal healthcare. Mendez explained to them that universal healthcare is not the same thing as single payer. She said she wanted to speak with Cardenas himself.
After a short meeting, the staff agreed to schedule a personal visit between Mendez and the congressman when he is in the district.
The rally wound up with brief comments from Mendez, who expressed her gratitude and amazement that so many people came to support the rally.
— Georgia Brewer for HEAL California
May 22, 2019
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