ANACA The Nursing Voice Fall 2019

anacalifornia.org  .  19 ANA Hill Day We have the stories and the expertise; we are the ones who can create change, especially when we do it collectively and lift each other up. Annie Tat MS, BSN, RN, PHN, RN-BC I remember the first time I attended American Nurses Association (ANA) Hill Day in 2015. The chattering and bustling of dishes filled my ears as I entered a large room where a table had the “California” sign to indicate where I would be sitting with the rest of the California delegation. I had two years of nursing experience under my belt and attending this national lobby day made me nervous yet eager to learn. Fast forward to 2019, the chattering and bustling of dishes still filled my ears as I entered an even larger room, but this year I felt proud to see that California now had two tables for our delega- tion and I was able to participate in the chatter. I was inspired to see fresh faces, and after introducing ourselves, I realized this is the first year California had such professional diversity at ANA Hill Day. Our group represented nurse educators, Doctorate of Nurse Practitioner (DNP) students, home health nurses, hospice nurses, community nurses, military nurse veterans, nurse managers/directors, and inpatient Med/Surg, Intensive Care Unit, and Emergency Department nurses. We were all ready to advocate on behalf of nursing and our patients after listening to Representative Lauren Underwood (who is a Registered Nurse from Illinois) remind us that our stories are powerful and need to be told to make change. I immediately felt like I wanted to share strategies and the “do’s/ don’ts” that I had learned over the years at ANA Hill Day. I did not want people to feel nervous and confused, but well-prepared because there is nothing as exhilarating as Lobby Day. The colleagues I was surrounded by had the expertise to speak on the bills we were asking co-sponsorships on. At ANA Hill Day we were advocating for: nurse education funding through the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act (H.R. 728/S. 1399); the ability for Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRN) to sign for home health through the Home Health Care Planning Improve- ment Act (S. 296/H.R. 2150); ending nurse abuse through The Workplace Violence Prevention for Health Care and Social Service Workers Act (S. 851/H.R. 1309); and safe staffing (no bill this year as ANA and other stakeholders are building a coalition to present one safe staffing bill on a unified front). During out first meeting with Senator Dianne Feinstein’s staff, we looked like a force to be reckoned with as eighteen people entered the office. Phillip Bautista and I modeled how a meeting with a representative’s office should look like. I made a conscious effort to refer to the people in the room and encourage them to speak so they could see how empowering it can be to tell their stories and reveal their expertise. At the end of the day, through a series of circumstances, I was able to solely attend an appointment with both the Representa- tive and staff member. Despite having four years of experience at ANA Hill Day, I had never met with a Representative by myself. Despite coaching and mentoring people all day on how to approach ANA Hill Day, I still had a hard time gathering enough confidence and courage to say I was going to nail the meeting. I was nervous up until the very last second when the meeting with Congressman Jerry McNerney started. Once I started talking about my stories and expertise, I became comfortable. It reminded me why I try to make it to ANA Hill Day every year: we are not nurses only while we are on the clock, we are nurses every second we breathe. We have the stories and the expertise; we are the ones who can create change, especially when we do it collectively and lift each other up. ANA Membership Assembly 2019 Highlights Reprinted with permission from ANA Enterprise’s Healthy Nurse, Healthy Nation™