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Pediatric Council
Chapter leaders and members of Chapter’s Pediatric Council have been visiting with relevant WI Senate and Assembly health-related committee members to discuss pediatric issues including:
- Development of a Childhood Cabinet position at the executive level
- A SCHIP funding gap
- Seat-Belt Primary enforcement for at least all children
The Chapter’s Pediatric Council has the following priorities:
- Influence State administrative initiatives (e.g., BadgerCare Plus, Healthy Wisconsin for businesses) and legislative bills to ensure health care access for all children
- Urge Congress to fund SCHIP shortfalls
- Ensure medical homes for children with special health care needs and foster children
- Improve mental health access, payments and continuing education
- Improve dental/oral health access
- Address US Deficit Reduction Act documentation/verification of US citizenship and identity for Medicaid benefits
- Promote insurance coverage of management of overweight children
- Promote insurance coverage of new vaccines
- Prepare to maintain children’s health during disasters
- Establish Children’s Cabinet in State of Wisconsin
Position Statement developed by the Wisconsin Pediatric Council and approved by the WIAAP Board of Directors 7/27/07
Report on the Wisconsin Council on Children and Families (WCCF) Advocacy Camp 2008
Dipesh Navsaria, Chair Resident Section
I was pleased to be able to attend the WCCF’s 2008 Advocacy Camp in February. This 1.5-day conference involved learning about different
facets of advocating for children within Wisconsin’s political system. Attendees were from a very wide range of areas, including health
care but also libraries, long-term care, schools, governmental agencies, and many more.
While I have attended advocacy trainings in different places before, I was pleased to find one that was specific to Wisconsin since some
of the specifics of the legislative process were covered. Most importantly, the Wisconsin budget process was reviewed in detail – while
this has been in the news lately, it helped to have it laid out in detail, particularly with some role-playing which made the issues seem
more immediate. Some additional role-play which involved speaking with “undecided policymakers” was also useful.
We chose from a variety of topics in order to have small-group sessions aligned by these subject areas. These groups met multiple times
during the day in order to apply some of the skills we had learned. The topics offered were: Returning 17-year-olds to Juvenile Court;
Early Learning Coalitions; Housing Trust Funds; Raising the Minimum Wage; and Mental Health Parity. We also learned about lobbying criteria
and where the “line” is on activities which may constitute lobbying. (Short answer: it’s pretty hard to cross that line unless you’re
really doing a whole lot.)
In addition, some discussion regarding working with the media was planned and ended up being useful – a local TV news reporter came and
discussed what was important to her and her employers, which provided a great perspective on what they “need”. Tips were also included
on how to do a radio interview. (I could’ve used that last fall when I was doing one of those on SCHIP!)
Finally, there was a section on grassroots organizing and coalition building, including some of the WCCF’s goals for the future. While
this may seem like there wasn’t much to fill 1.5 days with, the legislative issues really filled a good portion of the first day.
Additionally, there was ample time for discussion and interaction with other participants — this was a refreshing change from many of
the other meetings I’ve been to since it didn’t involve solely medical providers. I was able to get a fairly wide perspective regarding
other services and advocates for children.
Resources:
http://www.wccf.org - Information on WCCF as well as a link to sign up for their e-newsletters or action alerts regarding legislative matters.
WCCF 2008 Advocacy Camp Materials - A binder with some printed materials from a variety of sources. I am looking into whether this is
available in an electronic form. Otherwise, if you’d like to know more about it or have me make copies of a particular section, please
don’t hesitate to contact me.
I deeply appreciate the Chapter’s willingness to send me to this meeting. I hope to make use of these skills in Chapter initiatives in
the coming years. Thank you!
Respectfully submitted.
Dipesh Navsaria
Dipesh@navsaria.com
