Thank you!

THANK YOU! Give yourself a huge pat on the back, high five, ice cream sundae, nap, etc whatever you need to do to CONGRATULATE yourselves on a job well done. Almost 40 of us gathered today to advocate for important causes and we were heard. We met with over 40 legislators or their aides and they were impressed! Most of all, we were impressed. Other groups may have the time and money to make huge signs, tshirts, websites, etc. but we have the heart to make this happen and it means so so much to see all of us coming together to work toward the same end goal...our future patients and their right to healthcare.

Loose ends:
1) drivers - please send me your name and email, we will reimburse you for gas, it just might take a while!

2) pictures! if you took pictures/video, or any other media of this day, we want it! Please find a time with us to get your files with a jump drive and we'll compile them for future students/pre-med student programs. This should inspire bigger and better lobby days in the future!

3) keep a look out for a feedback form we'll send out - be honest! what was helpful? what wasn't? we want to know and we'll make sure it is anonymous! just please fill it out!

4) COME BACK NEXT YEAR! There's always something to advocate for and we'll have new and old leadership coming together to work on making Lobby Day 2012 the best yet! Remember, it's not a sprint, it's a marathon...we always have to be advocating for our patients in AND out of the clinic.

Thank you again! You guys are the best and you should be proud of what you did today!!

Glenna and Lizzi
your amazed and happy AFTU co-chairs

Lobby Day updates!

Lobby Day will be on President's Day, February 21st, 2011!

We have decided to put our efforts behind maintaining Interpretive Services and Basic Health in the state budget this year.
More info:
http://hrsa.dshs.wa.gov/News/Budget.htm (general link with news info about budget cuts)
http://www.dshs.wa.gov/mediareleases/2010/pr10109.shtml (most recent news release)

Our next planning meeting will be on:

Wednesday, January 19th at 5:30 in room T553

Other action items:

Training for advocacy/lobbying info is below (this event is not mandatory, it is per your own interest/desire):

2/15 4:30-5:30pm room T473 with Nancy Amidei, more specifically tailored to us and our lobby day

TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT LOBBY DAY! The more people the better!
Ask for food/beverage donations!


Thanks for helping us out and we'll see you at the next meeting!

Glenna and Lizzi

AFTU kick off event- November 3rd, 2010

Please join Advocates for the Underserved (AFTU) to hear Dr. Ben Danielson speak about being an advocate, talking to law and policy makers and working on issues that affect the underserved communities. Dr. Danielson speaks passionately about the fact that the health of our patients depends not only on what happens inside the clinic, but also on the society in which our patients live. He works to challenge the status quo and helped OBCC establish a medical-legal partnership to help patients who have legal problems that are also affecting their health status.
Nov. 3rd, 5:30 pm, HSB - T739

Food and drinks will be served!!!!!

Dr. Danielson is a dynamic speaker who will get you excited and eager to get out there and do something! That’s where AFTU comes in. We will be holding our first planning meeting for Lobby Day (President’s Day 2011) later on in November. We’ll discuss our plans for going down to Olympia and speaking with legislators about issues that WE are all passionate about.

Ben Danielson is Medical Director for Odessa Brown Children's Clinic where he is also a practicing primary care pediatrician. 2nd years, he spoke to ourr class during ethics about vaccines. 1st years, if you haven't heard him speak before don't miss your chance now!

Thank you!

Welcome to AFTU

Hi All!

Thank you for visiting our blog spot. While a lot of this page is a TON of information on Lobby Day, we will also be trying to update it with the happenings and goings-on of AFTU. Right now we are working on getting a speaker for Fall quarter, so keep your eyes open for announcements!

If you would like more information or would like to get involved with planning Lobby Day please email Glenna (glennacm@uw.edu) or Lizzi (lizclark@uw.edu).

Thanks so much!

Lobby Day 2010 Writeup

Introduction and Purpose

• increase civic engagement among med students
• learn more about the legislative process
• inform our legislators about our priorities
• basic health and gau budget cuts, fiscal crisis - encourage more investment in public health

Methods and Materials

Initial planning

• We decided on President's Day because students usually have that day off.  It is a popular Lobby Day so appointments with legislators will need to be scheduled far in advance
• In 2010, the lobby day happened to coincide with the planned day for a large rally by progressive groups with many similar goals as we had 
• We first did some initial recruiting and asked for RSVPs for the event to get a see which districts people were coming from (see google doc)  https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dG9iak9FdFliZVk1b2xvbGRMSzZoVFE6MA#gid=0

Coming up with a legislative agenda and schedule

• Healthy WA Coalition
• Fuse Washington
• Washington CAN
• SeattleTimes and other newspapers on reporting
• Nancy Amidei advice - we scheduled a morning talk with a research analyst for the health committee in the morning through nancy
• Nancy also gave an advocacy training in the morning

Contacting and setting up meetings with legislators

• We had a script for interaction (name, district, important issue, how many students represented) (see google doc) that was loosely followed to schedule appointments
• we weren't able to get actual appts with legislators because they were on the floor that day - we were able to get appts with their LAs (legislative assistants).

Funding
MSA provided funding for breakfast and gas - do this through online application


Recruitment

• e-mails to these mailing lists including: med school, aftu; also class announcements
• Two years ago, we talked with Ian Maki about giving SPARX points for attendance.  We didn't get to it this past year
• A cool poster was made and posted at various locations in health sciences including med lounge and classrooms
• Class announcements were made

Handouts for attendees

• Agenda and schedule
• Issues sheet and handouts to give to legislators

Logistics/Day of

• Drivers volunteered and were reimbursed
• Food and coffee via donations were gotten for breakfast - we also initially met at a cafeteria
• 4-5 'tracks' were created based off legislative district and each track was led by someone involved in the planning process
• Parking was free on streets surrounding the Capitol

Follow Up

• Thank you card written for Nancy Amidei
• Thank you e-mails to Sen Ed Murrary and his staff
• Survey sent to participants to ask for anonymous feedback on what could be improved
• Writing this report

Results
What went well

• morning trainings by Nancy and research analyst were well liked and informative
• Rally was invigorating
• Great to have stop by talk with Ed Murray
• Tracks worked very well to make sure every appt scheduled was attended

 Conclusion / Recommendations for Next Time
What could be improved

•  provide more education about issues beforehand to participants
• planning earlier to get more contact time with the legislators
• ask for and advertise availability of sparx points earlier in the process
• print off lists of representatives and senators for folks (this was brought by nancy amidei this time)

RSVP for Health Professional Student and Ally Lobby Day 2010!

What: Health Professional Student's Lobby Day and Civic Engagement Workshop
When: Monday February 15th (President's Day)
Where: Olympia
RSVP @ http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dG9iak9FdFliZVk1b2xvbGRMSzZoVFE6MA

Cosponsors: Advocates for the Underserved (AFTU) and the American Medical Student Association (AMSA)
Breakfast and transportation will be provided.
 
Every year, AFTU and AMSA take a trip down to Olympia and meet with our state legislators to discuss issues important to us and our future patients. Come to voice your concerns, share your experiences and participate in the political process!

Lobby Day 2009 Writeup Draft

Med Student Lobby Day Writeup
Advocates for the Underserved (AFTU) and American Medical Student Association (AMSA)

Introduction and Purpose

increase civic engagement among med students
learn more about the legislative process
inform our legislators about our priorities
basic health and gau budget cuts, fiscal crisis
med student tuition bill


Methods and Materials

Coming up with a legislative agenda (Resources, websites, links?)


Contacting and setting up meetings with legislators
script of interaction (name, district, important issue, how many students represented)
tips when calling legislative aides


Funding
MSA provided funding for breakfast and gas (What is the process of getting this, e.g. who to email, application?)


Recruitment
e-mails to these lists : med school, aftu, etc
SPARX points

Handouts for attendees
badges "Healthcare for all"
agenda and schedule
issues sheet
etc

Logistics
drivers volunteered


Results
impressions, what went well, what could have been done better


changes in the bill regarding primary care and med student tuition

Conclusion / Recommendations for Next Time
tracking bills, coordinated response for situations such as med student tuition bill where there are many different opinions
ask for and advertise availability of sparx points earlier in the process
print off lists of representatives and senators (this was brought by nancy amidei this time)


Appendix
All handouts (agenda and schedule, AFTU issues sheet, etc)
google doc scheduling spreadsheet

e-mails sent out



Hello everyone,

Thank you to all of you who made it to the AFTU lobby day on Monday! We appreciated everyone showing up on their day off and working to make our legislators aware of some important issues. Here is a summary of the day for all of you who were unable to attend:

• Approx. 15 AFTU members traveled to the capitol in Olympia
• We started the day with an advocacy training session with Nancy Amidei, MSW
• We had at least 10 meetings with legislators from the House and Senate or their aids and distributed our written concerns to many more offices
• We advocated for the following:
- continued funding for the Basic Health plan: a state subsidized health plan that insures 120,000 of Washington's working poor
- continued funding for General Assistance Unemployment (GAU): a program that provides income for mentally and physically disabled people in our state
- House Bill 1892: a bill which would create a single payer health care system that would ensure quality coverage for all WA citizens
- Senate Bill 5502: we voiced our support for the bill's intent to increase primary care physicians in WA state, but expressed some concerns about the way the bill would be financed.

If you are interested in following up on these bills, we highly encourage you to do so. You can go to the WA state legislature website and search for a bill using the "bill information" tab on the left of the screen:

http://www.leg.wa.gov/legislature

As we learned from our visit, if you see that the bill is in the "Rules" committee, that is a great time to pick up the phone and call your legislator.

Thanks again everybody.

Best,

Jacob Sunshine, MS-II
Teresa Lee, MS-I
Colin McCluney, MS-I
James Kuo, MS-I
Peter Karlin, MS-IV

Stay tuned for an upcoming education/advocacy event in the spring quarter.