Football, Pumpkins and PH Advocacy!

Here’s a guest blog from Katie Kroner, PHA’s Advocacy and Awareness Director. The PHPN Symposium was an important and exciting event – with many other activities built around it – and I look forward to writing more about it after our Board of Trustees and other meetings this week.

Here at PHA headquarters in Maryland, we get just as excited about fantasy football and pumpkin carving as the next person, but nothing says fall at PHA quite like the way we ramp up our face-to-face advocacy efforts.

Lauren Johnson, RN (left), with
Rep. Lois Capps, a sponsor of the
Pulmonary Hypertension
Research and Diagnosis Act.

Last week, more than 400 allied health professionals from across the country traveled to the D.C. area for our 2013 PH Professional Network Symposium, The Power of Teamwork: 10 Years of Professional Collaboration in PAH. To kick off the Symposium, nearly 80 PH Professional Network members visited 60 senators from 30 states and asked them to co-sponsor the Pulmonary Hypertension Research and Diagnosis Act. Advocates received a warm welcome and lots of positive feedback from legislative staff about the new PH bill. In particular, the fact that the new bill doesn’t call for any additional government spending made it something more offices were willing to consider co-sponsoring.

PHPN Advocacy Day was also an empowering experience to participants who had never visited their Members of Congress before. One first-time advocate described the day as “a great way to stand up for patients that I take care of in the hospital setting and to let people know about the disease.”

What’s next for PH advocacy? I’m glad you asked!

PHA’s annual Congressional Luncheon is less than six weeks away on Tuesday, Nov. 12 and you’re invited!

PHA’s Congressional Luncheon & National Advocacy Day
Tuesday, Nov. 12
Cannon House Office Bldg, Room 345 Washington, D.C.
The luncheon is free to attend, and transportation is provided from PHA's office.
RSVP to us by email or by calling 301-565-3004 x753

The Congressional Luncheon is an opportunity to make a powerful impact in Congress, advancing our work for accurate diagnosis and a cure for PH. Even if you can’t attend this free event, I hope you’ll join me in inviting your Members of Congress. Then, share this post with ten friends and ask them to either attend the Luncheon or invite their Members of Congress.

Next week we’ll be posting sample messages on PHA’s website that you can use to invite your senators and representative to the event. Learn more about participating in National PH Advocacy Day.

Stay tuned for Congressional Luncheon updates in PHANews and this blog for more about the PH Professional Network Symposium, the strength of teamwork within the PH community, and the amazing examples of all we can accomplish together.