Christine Cardenas is a student at Wayne State University who, like several classmates, is without health insurance. She works at Macys department store, but doesnt earn enough to pay her tuition and living expenses and afford the health policy the store offers its employees. While shes 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 couldnt find a dentist who would treat him. A socially conscious student, Christine is amazed and appalled that a country such as Trinidad, her fathers 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 womens health issues.

Photo: Donna Terek