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Charging the Hill: A Student’s Guide for Advocacy and Student Legislative Day

By: Sabrina La Spisa and Samantha Boartfield

On February 3-4, 2015 we had the opportunity to attend ASHP’s Student Advocacy Training and Legislative Day along with 40 other students from across the country. This was particularly exciting, not only because it was ASHP’s first-ever Student Legislative Day, but because provider status bills had recently been introduced in both the House and Senate (H.R.592 and S.314). Our excitement was only slightly tempered by our nervousness – we weren’t exactly sure what to expect or what was expected of us. Thankfully, ASHP provided us with ample training and orientation prior to our meetings at Capitol Hill. In the end, we discovered that advocacy isn’t as intimidating as it may sound, and is something we should all participate in, even (and maybe especially) as students. 

Here are five things we learned from our congressional meetings: 

1. They want to meet with you! You are the constituents, the voters, the population they are representing. Whether we spoke to the legislators themselves or their legislative aides, they were extremely receptive to what we were saying. The conversations were enjoyable experiences that flowed easily in a two-way direction.

    

2. We are experts in the field: Though all of the legislators have healthcare legislative aides, they depend on outside resources to keep them educated and informed about specific issues. Don't be shy to share what you know! Many of the legislators we met with were unaware of the extent of training pharmacists receive and the services we are already authorized to provide under current scopes of practice.

    

3. Personal stories are the most relatable. When talking with the legislative staff, personal stories such as an issue we had at our pharmacy went much further than reciting facts they could read for themselves on a flyer. We, of course, provided them with the pertinent factual information and statistics, but found that supplementing it with relatable experiences helped paint a better picture of how the passage of these bills would help improve the day-to-day lives of their constituents.

    

4. You can't be heard if you don't speak up. All too often we find ourselves asking "Why isn't this being done?" or "How has no one thought of this yet?". Odds are, many people are having the same thoughts, so be the one to speak up about your concerns! We found it empowering to be on Capitol Hill advocating for our future profession and speaking up about why provider status is so important to us and to patients.

    

5. Stay informed! Stay up-to-date on the important advocacy initiatives by regularly reading ASHP’s Advocacy Grassroots Network or other professional pharmacy organization websites.Additionally, there are many free apps that allow you to bookmark current bills in pharmacy and set alerts to monitor their progress. It has been very rewarding to see the number of co-sponsors continue to rise after our congressional meetings!