NURS 3

Transcriptno1female.pdf

Working with Legislators

Working with Legislators Program Transcript FEMALE SPEAKER: The people who you are talking with in an elective office or their staffs are extremely bright. Having said that, do not assume that they know what you know. That's what you bring to the table. [MUSIC PLAYING] These may be individuals that have never been in the hospital except for the day that they were carried out in their mother's arms. They may not have had ongoing, extensive exposure to the challenges of the populations you're serving. So you're the voice to that. So bright people, but do not underestimate what you bring to that conversation. FEMALE SPEAKER: I've always told students, if you ever go into a legislator's office and heart conditions are your thing, don't ever talk about all the CABGs that have been done. That's a coronary artery bypass graft. They don't know what a CABG is. They think a CABG is something that looks kind of like a lettuce, only it's tougher. We know not to use that kind of terminology with patients. We know not to use it with legislators, even though they may be lawyers and attorneys. They don't understand medical terminology. FEMALE SPEAKER: So it's really important for people that you're talking to know your background, to know that you're a registered nurse, that you have a master's degree, and your specialty is in a particular area. So you're talking about the population you work for and maybe even where you work. That's information that they need to know about you, because how they process the rest of what you tell them will be informed and influenced by their knowledge of your background. So be sure that that's the first thing you say to them. This is my name. This is what I am. And here's where I'm from. It's really important to have your facts down, and that if there's a question you're asked and you don't know the answer to it, to know that that's OK, that you do the follow up coming back to them and letting them know, I don't know the answer to that question. But I'll be sure to get it for you. And then do it, and do it quickly. We also should never stretch the truth, deviate from fact. If what we're sharing is an opinion, we ought to let them know it's an opinion. Now, I would say it's an expert opinion, probably, on health care, because of our background. But be able to distinguish, my opinion is this, or based on my experience, this is what I see.

Working with Legislators

Additionally, it's so important for us to be members of professional nursing organizations. It's important, because it's so challenging these days to stay abreast of the issues, challenges, problems, policies that are resonating at state and federal levels. So I stay in close touch through email communication that I get from the professional associations of which I'm a member. And when they ask me to do something, I act on it. It doesn't mean you have to be full-time in health policy to do this. It does mean that on occasion, spending five minutes to read up on an issue and then sending an email consistent with what my professional association is asking me to do, that might be at least as important as what you do for a patient or for family or for a community that day, because engaging there might actually be part of the trigger to get a policymaker to do something different than they may or may not have done otherwise. FEMALE SPEAKER: It's fine to disagree. But let's work on what is going-- that we can get done successfully together, though. And that's been my whole thing with policy, collaboration across parties, working together to get things done. When we have a disagreement, we disagree without hostility, but we certainly disagree clearly and reinforce our position with data, anecdote, things that will help communicate why we believe so fervently in the importance of a particular piece of legislation, a particular regulation, a particular program or policy. So you can let them know that their position is not one that you agree with, that you have a different view. And you'd want to give them the information about why your view is different. But a tone of hostility is not helpful. The other point I'd make is starting with common ground, trying to establish common ground. I know you care deeply about your constituents. I know you care deeply about mothers who are struggling as single parents and who frequently are living in environments that are impoverished, where it's difficult for them to put food on the table and also pay for medications for their children. I know you care about that. And then taking that issue from there. So starting with common ground is important. And absolutely thanking members of Congress and being there for them, or state legislators, when you think they've done the right thing. I can't begin to tell you how much public thanks, and private thanks too, matter to people who are really working hard, from their vantage point, trying to do the right thing. Communicating what the positions are of individuals, whether they're for a position or they're against it, it's really important for us to communicate that, not just to the individual but more broadly to the public, in part because the public can help us leverage members of Congress and state legislators to do the right

Working with Legislators

thing too. So don't keep it to yourself. Don't even keep it within the nursing community. Push it out. [MUSIC PLAYING]

Working with Legislators Additional Content Attribution Trowell‐Harris, I. (n.d.). Various Photographs [Photograph]. Used with permission of Irene Trowell-Harris. Wakefield, M. (n.d.). [Photograph]. Used with permission og Mary Wakefield WAL_NURS6050_NIH-SenatorDanielInouye Official White House Photo by Pete Souza GettyLicense_769805145 Akepong Srichaichana/EyeEm / EyeEm / Getty Images