"Bernie Bus" Stops at Lakewood Hospital

[Michael Deneen]

National Nurses United's big red "Bernie Bus" made an impromptu visit in Lakewood this morning. It stopped outside the shuttered Lakewood Hospital to meet voters and bring attention to the ongoing citizens' fight to keep their hospital. Lakewood is the first Ohio stop for the bus, which arrived from Flint, Michigan.

Among the nurses onboard was Margie Keenan RN, a retired nurse from Long Beach, California. She joined the bus a week and half ago in Denver, and has traveled across the nation to campaign for Sanders. When asked why she supports Bernie, she offered three words: "Caring, compassion, community." More specifically, she supports Bernie's single payer health plan. In her 45 years in cardiac care, she has seen many instances where patients avoid visiting the doctor due to bills, only to wind up with a much larger and more expensive medical problem later. Michelle Mahon RN, an NNU organizer here in Northeast Ohio, linked single payer to the Lakewood Hospital battle. "With a single payer system, patients become the priority, not profits", she said. Cleveland Clinic, which closed Lakewood Hospital earlier this year, will open a new hospital in Avon this fall. It is also planning a new facility in England near Buckingham Palace.

During their visit, NNU made a video about the Lakewood Hospital situation and shared it across social media. The Bus, which originated a few months ago in Los Angeles, will spend the next couple days in the Cleveland area at sites like the West Side Market, CSU and CWRU, and the Rock Hall. It will then go across the state in advance of the Democratic Presidential Primary on March 15.

For more information on NNU, visit http://www.nationalnursesunited.org/

To see photos of today's stop, click here for the Observer gallery:
http://www.lakewoodobserver.com/photobl ... pital-3716

[Michael Deneen]

The Big Red Bus parked outside the shuttered hospital.
NNU is one of Bernie's largest supporters.


Michelle Mahon filming an NNU video about Lakewood Hospital.

[cameron karslake]

Yay, go Michelle! We miss you and it's great to see you are out there doing what you can, like so many of our concerned citizens here in Lakewood.