I'm a doctor treating COVID-19 in New York. I'm also $300,000 in debt.

I'm not alone. Medical staff across the country are risking our lives
while drowning in debt.

Please help me demand that politicians give us more than kind words --
cancel our student loan debt now: [ [link removed] ]Take Action!


[ [link removed] ] Sign the petition 

   
John,

I'm a doctor in New York City. I spent the last two weeks treating adult
patients with COVID-19, something I was never trained for.

I'm also over $300,000 in debt.

Every evening, thousands of Americans are applauding for front line
healthcare workers, and we truly appreciate it. But it would be nice if
the government showed the same appreciation.

We're exposed to an extremely high degree of risk in this pandemic. At my
hospital alone, we've had multiple nurses and doctors forced out of work
after contracting COVID-19, some severely enough to require a ventilator. 

That's why I'm asking for your help. We shouldn't have to risk our lives
just to drown in debt. We need the government to cancel our student loan
debt, now.

[ [link removed] ]Click to help me cancel student loan debt for frontline workers

I'm by no means alone: last year, the average debt of a medical student
was over $200,000. Graduating nursing students, who are paid significantly
less than doctors, average over $50,000 in debt. And most of that debt is
owned by the government, acting just like a big bank, making big profits
off our huge loans while we serve and care for and treat people.

Over the last 6 years I've often worked 80 hours a week in public
hospitals. My salary has at times amounted to less than $10 per hour. I
went to school for a decade, and now have to work for at least another
decade just to pay off the debt to my own government. It's extremely
tough.

Forgiving our student loans is the type of support that healthcare workers
-- many of whom are young professionals in their 20s and 30s -- need to
meet our present challenges and bolster our future security. We already do
this for other "frontline fighters" -- many people in the military can
access free college tuition, and the latest GI Bill provides free tuition
payments for anyone who has served in active duty.

What politician would dare say that we, healthcare workers, haven't earned
the right to a free education, which has already been plenty put to use by
saving countless lives in this pandemic?

[ [link removed] ]Please join me in calling for debt relief for all frontline workers

Freeing us from student debt would have a tremendous impact on our lives
and on the country after the crisis. It would allow many of us to work in
under-served rural and urban areas and opt for lower-paying but critical
specialties like family practice.

It would mean we could be something other than indentured servants to the
government and the medical insurance industry.

Politicians are quick to praise us, but until they act on the one thing
within their power that most affects us in the long term, it's all just
lip service. We deserve better:

[ [link removed] ]Demand debt relief for frontline COVID-19 workers

Millions and millions of people are out of work right now and financially
struggling. Many of those people carry their own crippling debt. We should
be working to free all of us from this burden. Let's start with the people
on the frontlines defending us all from this crisis.



[ [link removed] ] Sign the petition 



Thanks for all that you do,
Dr. Manuel Penton with the team at SumOfUs


 

 

SumOfUs is a worldwide movement of people like you, working together to hold corporations accountable for their actions and forge a new, sustainable path for our global economy.

Please help keep SumOfUs strong by chipping in $3. [link removed]