Capital Hill Visit

As many of you know, I was selected as one of 24 nurses to go to Washington DC by the ANA to learn about and become a political advocacy fellow for 2024. I spent the past week in DC learning the intricacies of becoming a political advocate which culminated in making a visit to Capital Hill. During this visit, I was able to walk the halls of the US Capital, roamed the halls of the Senate and House buildings, and perused the underground tunnels that connect the Capital and all of the Senate and House buildings (let me tell you what a web these tunnels are and, not surprisingly, I got very lost a few times). I met with three House Representatives and three Senators. During these meetings, I educated each member of Congress on the bills that impact healthcare and nurses, including the Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Workers Act and the Improving Care and Access to Nurses Act. I was asked many interesting questions, but as this is my second time on Capital Hill meeting with lawmakers, I was able to give much more information and I was much more comfortable in doing so. The ANA prepared us so well for these visits and I learned so much. Some of the most interesting things I learned were:

• Use personal stories in the presentations. Lawmakers want to know how these bills will impact their constituents in their districts. This was a bit hard for me because I am a research/numbers person, but I did my best.

• When asking for support of these bills, ask the member of Congress to co-sponsor the bill because, the more bipartisan support a bill gets, the more likely it is to pass.

• If a bill is in a committee that the member of Congress serves on, ask them to request that the bill receives attention in the committee. After a committee approves a bill, it can move back to the floor for a vote.

• Know ahead of time if the bill has bipartisan support. Every member asked me this question.

• The Senate has a Halloween puppy parade called "HOWLoween BiPAWtisan Parade." There were dogs everywhere in the Senate buildings, which was my favorite part. Mitt Romney was the Grand Marshall for the parade.

This was an amazing experience and I cannot wait to go back to DC to do it again. I understand that we all cannot do this, but we can express ourselves and request support of these bills in writing. I am more than happy to write the letters for you, all you would need to do it personalize it and copy and paste it to an email. Just drop me an email with you city and state and I will have a letter for you with info on who to send it to in a matter of minutes.