Ah, childhood memories...for most of us, these include certain instances of being sick and staying home from school. If you were fortunate, these recollections also include visits to the family physician or being forced to take medicine you probably didn't like the taste of.

For many families, being able to go to the doctor when an illness strikes or buying medicine from the drugstore when a family member gets a cold is simply not a reality. SEIU Local 21LA member Eula Williams thinks back on her younger years and remembers when her family was forced to use homemade 'remedies' including "fatback" and "cod oil" because they couldn't afford traditional medicines for ailments such as a sore throat or pneumonia. "I know what it is like to be without healthcare...I also know the devastating affects it has on others who simply cannot afford it," said Williams, explaining why she didn't hesitate to come to Washington, DC to promote healthcare reform as a Grassroots Lobbyist (GRL) for SEIU earlier this summer.

Eula works in Lafayette, Louisiana, as an early childhood education teacher with SMILE Head Start, a program that provides early childhood education and developmental services to low-income children. As a mother to six children of her own, Eula knows the hardships of providing for a large family when having insurance can mean little if it is not affordable, or doesn't provide the coverage you need. When Eula's husband had to have two open heart surgeries, the resulting high deductibles from the operations created a financial burden that has undermined her ability to help send her children to college--or save for her own retirement. "Whether we realize it or not, we are our brother's keepers--Every soul is precious. Every life is important, and what affects one, affects another," says Williams. "Healthcare reform is a priority. Yes, we can make it happen, now."

For Americans like Eula, real hope for changing the status quo of inadequate coverage and unaffordable premiums is now closer than ever. Last week, efforts towards reform cleared several hurdles, as three of the five Congressional committees working on legislation to reinvent the nation's health care system delivered bills seeking to lower costs, expand coverage, assure choice and be deficit-neutral. No one is more aware than President Obama that defense of the status quo is not acceptable. On Friday, the President said these words: "We are going to get this done. We will reform health care. It will happen this year."

Note: Eula Williams spent five weeks as a Grassroots Lobbyist through SEIU's Change That Works campaign to support President Obama's Healthcare Reform Act.

Read more blog posts profiling SEIU Grassroots Member Lobbyists here and here.