Advocacy Is a Team Relay Race
Dr. L. Jeffrey Lowenstein
NESO Legislative Correspondent
Over the years, I have learned something very important about advocacy: We are most successful when we work as a TEAM.
It is easy to think of federal advocacy and state advocacy as two separate worlds. One takes place in Washington, D.C., and the other in our State House. But the issues affecting dentistry rarely fit neatly into one category. What happens at the federal level can influence what happens in our states, and successful state initiatives can become models for action elsewhere. That is the reason COMMUNICATION and COORDINATION are so important.
Our national organizations can provide research, data, policy expertise, and a voice on Capitol Hill. Our state dental societies understand the unique legislative and regulatory environment closer to home. Our local dental societies bring advocacy directly into our communities.
But there is one more piece that I believe is absolutely essential: “YOU!”
We are the dentists who live and practice in a legislator’s district. We employ their constituents, care for their families and neighbors and understand firsthand how legislation affects our patients, our dental teams, and our ability to provide quality care.
I have always believed that advocacy is about RELATIONSHIPS before it is about legislation.
We shouldn’t introduce ourselves to our legislators for the first time when we need their vote. We should develop those relationships throughout our careers. Invite your legislators to visit your practice. Attend their community events. Participate in legislative and advocacy days. Send an occasional email. Better yet, pick up the phone and call. Make sure their contact information is saved and show them that you have them on speed dial. You will be their SUPERSTAR constituent. Always thank them when they help dentistry and your patients.
We need to bring others onto the team. Our dental team members can be tremendous advocates as well as our families and, when appropriate, our patients. A legislator may expect to hear from a dental organization or lobbyist. Hearing directly from a dentist and especially from a constituent or patient affected by an issue can make all the difference in the world and then that issue becomes personal and real.
The key is COORDINATION. If our national, state, and local organizations are communicating the same basic message, while dentists and patients are reinforcing that message with their own experiences, we become much stronger than any one organization or individual could be alone.
Think of advocacy as a relay race. Sometimes the baton is in Washington. Sometimes it is at the State House. Sometimes it is in a legislator’s district. “It is important to keep passing that baton and that everyone is running in the same direction.”
Federal advocacy gives us a national voice. State advocacy allows us to address the issues closest to our practices. Local advocacy builds relationships. And individual dentists provide the personal stories that give our message credibility. Put them all together, and we have something very powerful.
“Advocacy isn’t somebody else’s job. It’s our job.” And when organized dentistry works together as a TEAM, from the AAO & ADA to our state and local dental societies, and ultimately to each of us in our own communities, we can accomplish far more together than we could ever have done alone.