Adult Day Centers Advocating for Change

By Teresa D. Johnson, BS

 

Does the squeaky wheel get the grease?

Do you want your issues to be heard?

Do you want to start or build a relationship with law makers?

Do you need to convert your center to a different model?

Do you want the adult day services industry to be invited “to the table”?

 

The time has come in the development of adult day services that successful managers have recognized the necessity for targeted marketing, efficient operations and diverse funding.  While a significant portion of operating revenue is generated from private funds, the limited government funding too often falls short of equitable reimbursement.  If adult day centers are to compete and survive in the health care system today, we must enter the political arena to be at the table. 

 

We must claim our rightful role as political participants to impact legislation for funding and regulations in favor of adult day services so that people can continue to receive care in their communities.  For many of us, lobbying is something other people do—people who wear fancy clothes and buy politicians lunch at expensive restaurants.  Lobbying is simply trying to influence those who make policies and laws that affect our lives.  All of us should promote adult day services if we believe in its cause and the democratic form of government.

 

Building public trust is essential to adult day centers and lobbying helps you gain it by increasing your organization’s visibility.  It is just as essential as raising funds and recruiting volunteers.  You miss out on an important opportunity to market your center if you do not establish relationships with local, state and federal government.

 

Learn the Ropes:  Be Informed

You no longer have to go to the state capitol  to keep up with what is happening in the legislature.  In some ways, it has never been easier to keep track of what legislators are up to.  Internet access makes it possible to view the action of legislatures across the country by simply logging on to the their websites.  Access to websites for legislatures across the country can be found through links on the website for The National Conference of State Legislatures at www.ncsl.org.  Bills and committee decisions are posted on the state legislative websites, along with tools to help you easily identify your legislators.  Most public television stations also broadcast weekly television shows featuring legislative highlights.

 

You don’t have to be an expert, but it will help to be familiar with the process by which a bill becomes a law.  Many of the websites for state legislatures include information about how a bill becomes law.  For an explanation of the federal legislative process, see the House of Representatives web site at http://thomas.loc.gov.  For an explanation of the federal budget process and timetable, see the Citizens for Budget Reform web site, http://www.budget.org/USABIS.  Information about state budget processes and timetables is available from the National Association of State Budget Officers at http://www.nasbo.org/pubs/budpro/frame.htm.

 

Develop an agenda of items that merit change.  Examples might be increased funding or clarifying certain ambiguities in current regulations.  Identify how those issues affect your organization’s ability to provide services and how they are affected by government at all levels.  Develop appropriate public policy goals that are in the spirit of your organization’s mission.

 

Mobilize Advocates

Invite every consumer, volunteer and employee of the organization to become involved in effecting change.  Identify key persons who work, volunteer or are served by your organization—anyone who would be willing to contact their elected officials on behalf of your cause.  Multiple perspectives will strengthen the process and outcomes of your efforts.  Equip the advocates with tools to tell their stories about how adult day services has impacted them.  Ask them to record their stories in writing.  Make sure they identify where they are from so their legislators will identify them as their constituents.  These stories can also be helpful in future testimony before legislative committees, lobbying visits, communications with the media and to include in your annual report.

 

Look for allies!  Remember that public policy work is not a solo activity.  It is critical to contact other adult day centers, respite centers or organizations providing similar services to enlist them in the effort.  People and organizations must work together to gather enough public support for change to be made.

 

Work with key leaders in your organization to develop a public policy agenda.  Identify two to three most important long-term changes in laws and/or regulations that would benefit adult day services.  Agree on a clear number one priority so you will be able to maintain focus.  After writing them down, describe next to them in a few sentences how those you serve would benefit if the changes occurred.  (If your organization is a non-profit and guards against lobbying, learn what you need to know about Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest web site at www.independentsector.org/clpi.)  Brief everyone in the organization’s decision-making structure to make sure they understand the legal opportunities for public policy participation—as opposed to acting as a barrier to warm against any advocacy, lobbying or voter education activities.

 

Become More Visible

Attend meetings of other organizations working on similar public policy issues.  Your presence will send a strong signal that your organization cares about the issues.  Create a packet of information about your organization including its mission, services and your public policy agenda.  Include copies of testimonials from people who have benefited from adult day services—participants and caregivers.  If you are not sure of facts on some issues, then don’t fudge.  Cite references appropriately.  Building credibility is vital to the long-term strength of your public policy efforts.

 

Stay Connected

Not only has technology changed the way we learn about legislative action, but it has also made it much easier to contact our elected officials.  Encourage all of your advocates to fax, email, telephone and snail mail their messages to their legislators.  When writing letters, encourage advocates to describe how a change in the law would affect them, their community and other people using the service.  However, while all of these communications are helpful, there is still no form of communication as powerful as meeting in person.

 

The staff of a legislator may be more knowledgeable about your issues than the legislator.  Meet with them and give them an information packet.   Send a copy of correspondence with legislators to the legislator’s staff, also.

 

Research the interests of your elected officials to find out if they have professional or personal ties to adult day services or home and community-based services.  Meet with the elected official who is most closely aligned with your cause to inform them of the policies your organization supports.  Ask them how your organization can work cooperatively with them to achieve your public policy goals, e.g. introducing a Bill on your behalf, supporting legislation introduced by other legislators, etc.

 

Ensure that representatives from your organization are prepared to act quickly enough to keep pace with the legislative process.  Find out when the appropriate committees in the legislature are holding hearings on subjects related to your mission and ask for permission to provide testimony in person.  Include data about the impact of adult day services in your testimony, along with your recommendation for action on the public policy issue.  Take along printed copies of your statements to distribute to the committee members listening to your comments. 

 

Inform the media about how a pending public policy issue would affect your cause.  Build relationships with the media contacts who cover the issues most closely related to adult day services.  Encourage advocates to write letters to the editor about the impact of adult day services and problems being confronted if laws do not change.  Don’t forget to keep your consumers informed about any progress or obstacles in the advocacy efforts through the organization’s newsletter.  Tell them how they can be supportive and receive more information.

 

Say “Thank You” and Hang In There

Write notes of congratulations to your elected officials when they act in a helpful way to your cause.  Remember to thank all those who volunteered in any way—time, letter-writing efforts, money— to help your public policy efforts.  It takes a lot of small victories to achieve the common goal of converting a bill into a law.

 

Reprinted from The Information Source for Adult Day Centers®, March 2003