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After walking nearly 150 miles, Dr. Ogan Gurel’s feet hurt. He has bought seven bottles of ointment to soothe the blisters, and he hopes those get him through Ohio.
Gurel, a self-employed consultant who trained at Columbia University, is taking a month to walk at least 625 of the roughly 700 miles between Chicago and Washington, D.C., to raise awareness of the need for improvements to the health care system.
He started June 27 and made a stop in Fort Wayne on Friday.
He isn’t acting as advocate for an organization, but a few local groups greeted him when he arrived at Headwaters Park.
Tim Thomas, state director of Change That Works, which focuses on health care reform, said Gurel’s walk could help the organization get the word out on the need for changes in health care availability.
Gurel spoke to a crowd of about 25 people, sharing stories of people he’s spoken with on the road between Chicago and Fort Wayne. The stories described people with and without health insurance who had to pay thousands of dollars out of their own pockets for medical bills. Even Gurel said he doesn’t have health insurance.
Because many people have health insurance through their jobs, Gurel added that anyone who is laid off could end up without insurance.
“It could be any of us,” he said.
After being disgusted by the debates over health care reform, Gurel said he took a week and planned the walk to Washington. Gurel doesn’t know what he’ll do when he reaches his destination, but he thinks supporters will hear about him and rally for the cause.
Although Gurel said the journey so far has been a little lonely, businesses and people have helped him out along the way. On Wednesday, Upendra Patel, the general manager and part-owner of Days Inn in Warsaw, allowed Gurel to stay overnight for free.
Patel donated $20 to the intrepid walker and sent an employee to deliver Gurel – with a large suitcase he’s been living out of for a month – to the Days Inn in Fort Wayne.
“I think he’s walking for the good cause, trying to help people,” Patel said Thursday, when asked what spurred his over-the-top hospitality. Patel and his wife are uninsured because, Patel says, they can’t afford coverage.
Patel’s wife is in good health, but Patel has diabetes. He tries to manage it by eating a proper diet. Sometimes he gets free samples of medication, but other times he has to skip medication altogether.
Mike Bynum, Allen County Democratic Party chairman and a local steel worker who was laid off from Dana Holding Corp., was at Headwaters to greet Gurel.
He said he has health insurance and that his premium is still the same as when he was working. But with the economy in turmoil, he said, the issue affects everyone, whether they have health insurance or not.
“Everyone has to care,” Bynum said. “I don’t see where there’s any ifs, ands or buts about it.”
Michael Schroeder of The Journal Gazette contributed to this story.
