Wenatchee students protest healthcare policies at Memorial Park

WENATCHEE – Students from Wenatchee’s Pinnacles Prep gathered Friday in Memorial Park with attendees from around the valley for a protest regarding the state of American healthcare, which has been in the news due to a number of factors since last November's election.

At the outset of President Donald Trump's campaign for his second term, he laid out plans that would alter healthcare in the U.S. substantially. An undercurrent of backlash against not our government, but the actual insurance providers has set in motion a different wave of change, however, apart from Trump's plans.

When asked what the student-led protest was all about, Scout Wolfe of East Wenatchee, the elected chair of the event, said that their focus was on universal healthcare. One teacher from the tuition-free charter school, Zach Getsinger, was in attendance with the students, and was very proud of his kids for putting the event together. The students that arrived at the beginning of the protest, Yanira Duran and Stefanie Ortiz, both of Wenatchee, were dressed for chilly weather.

Plenty of their classmates showed up shortly, followed by attendees who heard about the event at the Interfaith Justice Coalition meeting at St. Luke’s in Wenatchee on Sunday.

One attendee, Karen Dunning-Wells, was at her third protest in as many weeks. “I think healthcare is huge, especially for the people that can't afford what there is out there,” she said when asked what brought her to this particular protest. She had attended the “No Kings”-themed protest at Memorial Park in February, as well as one for International Women’s Day last Saturday.

Some of the students, in addition to holding signs and waving, had lists of questions that they asked other attendees, including what those people would like to see happen with healthcare in America and whether or not they think protests like this one are even effective at creating change.

A few students carried camera equipment and photographed the event from both north and south of the crowd, as well as from across the street, in an effort to document what they’d all put together for today’s protest.

The gathering drew honks and waves from passers-by at the corner of South Chelan and Orondo Avenues. Unlike some of the other protests that Wenatchee has seen recently, there did not seem to be any opposition to the rally, or to the message.

Andrew Simpson: 509-433-7626 or andrew@ward.media