Candlelight Prayer Vigil Sunday, December 13, 5:30-6:30pm

Sunday night, December 13 at 5:30 p.m., on the steps of the Tennessee State Capitol, there will be a prayerful candlelight vigil to call attention to the need for our communities to support Insure TN. The prayers are focused on uniting our hearts with our sisters and brothers who are in the healthcare coverage gap. It is our hope and prayer that the state of Tennessee will vote affirmatively for Insure TN and implement it quickly.

We will also have opportunities for individuals to create luminaries in honor of those in the healthcare coverage gap created by Tennessee’s failure to implement Insure TN and for those who have paid for this failure with their very lives. The luminaries created on this night will be incorporated into a display of luminaries created across the state on this same day, and these will be placed on the TN Capitol grounds in January to remind returning legislators of their commitment to the people of Tennessee.

The public is invited and all who support this plan are encouraged to attend.

Vigils will be held in various locations across TN on this same evening, so if you are unable to attend the vigil at this location, please reach out for information about a vigil to be held near you.

Governor Haslam introduced Insure Tennessee a year ago, and our legislators will have another opportunity this year to vote on it. Insure Tennessee would help 280,000 of our neighbors who are living without healthcare coverage.

We know them as people who are working one, two and sometimes three jobs. They cry out for help, yet too often their pleas are left unheard. Insure Tennessee is vital for our rural communities, whose hospitals are closing or at risk of closing.

When a community’s only hospital closes, the results are devastating. Patients cannot get care. Hospital staff members lose their jobs, not just nurses and doctors, but also cafeteria workers, housekeepers, custodians, parking attendants, security guards, and the nursing assistants who empty our bedpans. Small businesses that relied on their community hospital can no longer meet their expenses. More jobs are lost and businesses close.

Sunday night, we will share our love for our uninsured friends, neighbors and family members. In the end, until everyone has access to affordable basic health care coverage, we are all in the coverage gap.

More information visit:

https://www.tnjustice.org/gap

https://www.tnjustice.org/how-to-engage-leaders

Candlelight Vigils are also being held in Murfreesboro, Chattanooga & Memphis
Click here for a complete listing of all the Vigils happening throughout the state.