Advocacy Day Isn't Over Yet

Here are five simple steps to maximize the impact of our Hill visits beyond June 17:

1. Write a thank you note to everyone you met

• Your mother was right: it's nice to be thanked. So make sure you send a thank you note to each staff member you met with, and to the members themselves if you were fortunate enough to meet them. Remind them about our issues -- providing specific details from the meeting will improve your note.

• Ask the person to whom you are writing to clarify, once again, the office’s position on a $50 million appropriation for SBHC operations:

• Either thank them for their stated support; or

• If they were noncommittal, ask again.

• Lastly, invite the member to visit a school-based health center in your community.

2. Send us your photos!

• Email them to Adrienne Ammerman, Director of Communications, at aammerman@nasbhc.org so we can include them in our files and on our website.

3. Fill our your meeting reports

• If a tree falls in the forest with no one around, does it make a sound? Honestly, I don't know. But I do know that if you don't tell us (in the national office) about your meetings, it's almost like it never happened.

• So: please email me at jrovner@nasbhc.org to let me know how it went. And please be specific about whether any follow-up is needed.

 

4. Media advocacy

• Write a letter to the editor about your meetings. Letters are generally limited to 200 words, though that can differ by newspaper.

• Mention your meeting with the member’s office and his or her position. Specifically, use the member’s name so that the letter to the editor appears in the office’s google news alerts.

• Do not make demands; this can backfire. If the member is negative toward our issues, express your disappointment – not anger.

• Express the hope that the member can help the children and adolescents of your community and the whole nation.

• You should also consider writing an op-ed piece.  Use the ideas from above regarding a letter to the editor – they apply here, as well. Let us know about your successes!

5. Mailing lists

• Add the staff members you met with to your mailing list and stay in touch with them in the future.

Josh Rovner, Director of Policy & Advocacy

Advocacy Day Video (Part 1 of 4)

Thanks to Iman Shervington for her great work filming and editing this film!

Update on the SBHC Regulations: $200 million in Funding

Those of you unable to join us on the south side of the Potomac River in Arlington, Virginia, for our opening plenary with Jim Macrae missed an important update on the forthcoming regulations that will help SBHCs nationwide continue and expand the care that they are providing forchildren and adolescents.

For some background, it’s important that you understand that Section 4101(a) the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act appropriated $200 million over the next four years for construction and equipment for new and existing SBHCs.  We’re very grateful to our Congressional champions for making that happen, since the $200 million will make a big difference in the lives of youth everywhere.  I attended two terrific Advocacy Day meetings earlier in the day with a few high school seniors and recent graduates from high schools in Maine, and they made the case of what can happen with that funding – and what else can be accomplished if Congress appropriates an additional $50 million for the operation of SBHCs as authorized under section 4101(b).

Jim Macrae is the Associate Administrator for Primary Health Care in the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA).  As the head of the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC), he is in charge of drafting the regulations that will specify how the $200 million appropriation for construction and equipment.  He told a packed ballroom that the regulations are in the draft stage, and will be published in roughly one month.

As soon as the regulations are available we’ll convene phone calls to alert the field of the availability of the funds, and some assistance on how to structure the request for your center’s share of these competitive grants.  Mr. Macrae also said that BPHC plans on holding its own phone calls with interested stakeholders to answer questions that remain after the regulations are published.

So stay tuned to our website.  And become a member of NASBHC to become the first to know when the regulations are published.

Josh Rovner, Director of Policy and Advocacy

Some of the Special Guests from the Advocacy Day Rally

Thanks to Senator Merkley (OR) and Representatives Dingell (MI), Murphy (CT), Sarbanes (MD), and Capps (CA) for speaking at our rally this morning! More details and photos to come...

Advocacy Day Starts Tomorrow

Good afternoon, everyone.

We’re putting some of the final touches on our Advocacy Day, and it’s really looking terrific.  We’ve scheduled more than 110 meetings (more are coming in even as I type), thanks to the great work of our field.  At least nineteen of those meetings are with the appropriators who are pivotal to making sure SBHCs get the resources they need to keep their doors open and continue providing care.  We have meetings with twelve offices whose members sit on the education committees – Education and Labor in the House and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in the Senate.  Everywhere we go, we’ll be making the common-sense case for why healthy students make better learners.

I hope we’ll have some blog posts as the day goes on to let you know how the rally in the morning goes and what feedback we hear from the Congressional offices in our meetings.  If you’re not coming to the convention, please be sure to contact your members to express support for school-based health care in your community.  Invite your representative to tour a clinic.  Write a letter to the editor.

But for the hundreds of you who are traveling to the Convention: I can’t wait to see you.  Bring your spirit and your passion.  Let’s make it a great day!
Josh Rovner, NASBHC Policy & Advocacy Director