PA Lobby Day Gets Better Every Year

How do you get legislation passed? It is no easy feat. The planning needs to start months in advance. The bills need to have a sponsor, and then they need to be written up in a format that is very specific for legislation. Then the work comes to be sure the legislators vote for it when the bill comes up. This is the purpose of the Annual PA Lobby Day, which has become an annual event on Martin Luther King Day. The VAPA gathers a crowd of willing participants to present the VAPA Legislative agenda to the legislators. It is a fun and informative day that grows every year.

Rachel Carlson leads a group of students on the Red Folder Walk down to the Capitol

The Downtown Marriott in Richmond is the gathering place; it is a good location where a nice breakfast can be served to gather the troops at an early hour. Once everyone is fueled up for a busy day, the agenda moves on to a training session which is lead by long time Legislative Chair Dave Falkenstein from Chesapeake.   Each year he has fine-tuned this process, with extensive handouts and Power Point presentations as well as organized plans for the day. The nice thing for the participants is that they really need to just show up. All the information is presented that they need to know and time is given to practice. Each year, many of the PA Programs in the state include this legislative day as part of a required or optional class time so they get to spend the day in Richmond rather than a classroom. The group of nearly 150 practicing PAs and PA students is divided into groups of about 6 with a graduate PA and some students. The groups have some time to practice presenting the legislative proposals. Each group is given 5 or 6 legislators to visit. The large number of participants makes it a very reasonable job for each group. Then all the groups proceed to walk the 5 blocks to the capitol. Our Red Folder Day certainly can rival the White Coat day of the Medical Society. The visits move quickly and it is also educational to see the many other groups who are lobbying too. All of the bills we introduce do not always get passed, but we always get great feedback from the legislators for our professional and personal approach. When we ask if they are familiar with PAs, they say “Sure, you are here every year! Mark your calendar for next year’s lobby day.

Jefferson College Student Program Recognized

Jefferson College of Health Sciences PA students were featured in the AAPA news last fall for their innovative program called PA Student-Patient Self Management and Support (PASSMAS). This pilot program brought PA students together with chronic disease patients at the Kuumba Community Health and Wellness Center in Roanoke. Patients with a chronic disease such as diabetes or hypertension were paired with a PA student, who was able to review their chart with PA program faculty and develop an understanding of that patient’s chronic illness. Then, through visits at the health center and the patient’s home, the PA student helps the patient develop strategies to better control and live with their chronic condition. This unique and useful program earned the PA program and PASSMAS a $3,500 award as part of the 2005 Innovations in Healthcare: AAPA/ PA Foundation/ Pfizer Recognition Program. Great Job JCHS PAs!