AWHONN on Capitol Hill 2019
The second AWHONN on Capitol Hill was held April 8 & 9thin Washington DC. This was a chance for 100 AWHONN members to gather in DC and go to the Hill and talk to members of Congress about three important issues.
Day one was a day where we met with AWHONN Headquarters staff and talked about the three important topics that we would be going to discuss with our Senators and Representatives the following day. A leading subject matter expert gave a lecture on what each bill was about and why it was important. We also had a lecture from Frank Percell on how to lobby.
The day started with Seth Chase the AWHONN Director of Government Affairs explaining Federal policymaking and giving an update on public policy for women and newborns and explaining how Lobby Day would work. We also got to see photos of Seth's brand new baby! A very cool thing happened when Seth used a picture of Pat DuRant and I talking with NY Representative Paul Tonko at the 2018 AWHONN on Capital Hill event in his presentation.
This was followed by Tiffany Kaszuba explaining the essentials of public health funding.
The first bill was the FAMILY Act, S.463 and H.R. 1185 the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act. This bill will establish an opportunity Office of Paid Medical Leave within the Social Security Administration and will provide paid leave for 12 weeks for any family member for any family-related medical leave including maternity care. The really great thing about this bill is that it will allow mothers to get breastfeeding off to a great start. Breastfeeding is a way to keep not only babies healthy but also provides health benefits for women.
The second bill was the MAMMA’s Act, H.R. 1897 and S. 916 Mother's and Offspring Mortality and Morbidity Awareness Act. Last year at AWHONN on the Hill we went to ask for the Maternal Mortality Bill and this was signed into law in December of 2018. This new bill is icing on the cake! This bill would provide grant money for health care centers to implement best practices. This would allow hospitals the resources needed to implement the AIM Safety Bundles. https://safehealthcareforeverywoman.org/patient-safety-bundles/ It would also extend the postpartum period under Medicaid to insure women receive much needed healthcare after they give birth (from 2 months postpartum to 12 months postpartum).
The third bill was the Title VIII Nursing Reauthorization Bill of 2019. This is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services. This bill addresses the education, practice, recruitment and retention of the nursing workforce. This supports nursing education at all levels, helps the institutions that educate future nurses and helps to ensure that the demand for nursing care is met.
The end of day one was a keynote address by the Honorable Lauren Underwood, RN, BSN, MSN, MPH, US Representative (D-IL-14). Representative Underwood is a nurse and the youngest black woman to serve in Congress. She got everyone pumped up and asked us to become involved and to share our stories.
Tuesday, we descended upon Capitol Hill-- all 100 of us!! The AWHONN staff had made appointments for each of us with our Senators and Representative's offices. I was fortunate enough to have Pat DuRant, our Florida Section Treasurer/Secretary and AWHONN CEO, Suzanne Berry accompany me on visits to our Florida policy makers! First stop, Senator Rick Scott's office! We met with Jared Honts, Legislative Correspondent for Senator Scott. Prior to our meeting, we discussed how we would approach each meeting and who would discuss each bill. It worked great right from the start!
One meeting down, and on to Senator Marco Rubio's office! In Senator Rubio's office we met with Eduardo Sacasa, Legislative Aide. This was my third visit to Senator Rubio's office and my third time talking with Eduardo. We had a great discussion with him about the three bills.
We had a little break after this meeting and decided to have lunch inside the Capitol. Of course we stopped to have the usual pictures on the steps!
After lunch it was back at it! We visited Pat's representative, Representative Stephanie Murphy. Everything there went well and we were again well received! We met with Dao Nguyen, Senior Policy Advisor.
After this meeting we said good bye to Suzanne and we headed off to the last meeting of the day with my representative, Representative Francis Rooney. Pat and I met with Ken Clifford, Senior Legislative Assistant. I was also able to see my friend, Chris Berardi who serves at Representative Rooney's Communication Director while at his office.
So, what was the additional information we were able to share with the people we met with? We provided additional information that brought these three issues to life! We were able to share the state of breastfeeding in Florida. How we had increased the number of Baby-Friendly Designated Hospitals in Florida since our last visit. We were able to share our great work with AWHONN and the Florida Perinatal Quality Collaborative and how the initiatives that many of the Florida hospitals have instituted thanks to the FPQC are saving mother's lives in our state. We were able to share how faculty is working with student nurses to turn them in to competent practitioners to staff our hospitals. We were also able to share how a shortage of nurses impacts hospitals in Florida during busy tourist season. We made it personal by telling our stories. This will make it easier for the staff members to share the importance of what we are asking to their bosses. This will hopefully encourage some of the members of congress to co-sponsor or support these three important bills.
If you are an AWHONN member, consider attending AWHONN on Capitol Hill in 2020. It is the experience of a lifetime. You may decide like me, it is something you want to do every year!
