About 70 persons gathered at Fountain Square on Sept. 2 for a vigil “to honor those who are suffering under the current health-care system and to show that Illinois cannot afford to wait for health-care reform with a real public health insurance option,” according to its organizers MoveOn.org Political Action, the Center for Community Change, Democracy for America, Doctors for America, Health Care for American Now, and TrueMajority.
Nearly 300 such vigils were planned nationwide. Organizers said the vigils are also a fitting tribute to Senator Edward Kennedy, who viewed fighting for universal health care as the “cause of his life.”