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LEGISLATIVE WRAP-UP

ing happen. As we were leaving the first office we visited, I realized comfortable I felt in the Capitol after just one day. After one day, I
just how much work gets done in such a small space. felt that I had a role within the advocacy space and that I had power.
I left with a stronger understanding of advocacy work as a medical
What helped you connect most with the student and a stronger sense of my ability to create change through
legislators? What advice do you have for the legislative process.
medical students, specifically, to connect
with legislators? Ryan: The best part of the day was the self-reflection I had on
Swetha: Regardless of political alignment, it is possible to con- the way home. I had originally thought my presence at First Tuesday
nect with legislators. Sharing a story, especially a personal story, is a wouldn’t have much of an influence on anything or anyone, but I
technique that we saw work with great success. People remember realized that I have the ability to make a difference. My voice has
stories. You can give them a policy brief and a slew of facts, but power and can enact societal change; I never realized that before.
the reality is, they’re going to remember the stories that you shared. Honorable mention of best part of the day goes to the rattlesnakes
If you don’t have a personal story to share regarding the issue you’re that were in the rotunda on that first First Tuesday. Those were
advocating on, ask within your circle ahead of time. You can share pretty cool.
stories on behalf of others. Additionally, it’s important to own your
role as a medical student. Legislators listen to physicians and they What do you wish had gone differently?
listen to medical students — I often felt like my voice may have Swetha: I wish we had more time with both the aides and the
been heard more compared with physicians because the legislators representatives. As subject matter experts, it was quite obvious that
view us as the future of medicine. we had a wealth of knowledge to share. For the representatives and
senators who aligned with us on an issue, discussion was quite easy
How did you handle if your views did not align and very amicable. However, advocacy is a strong tool for change
with those of the legislators? when it changes mindsets, not just when it confirms established
Ryan: Some of the issues we were advocating for were politically mindset. With representatives and senators who had differing opin-
charged. If a legislator did not view an issue as we did, we required ions, we felt that we didn’t have enough time to truly try to change
a different approach. Leading up to each First Tuesdays visit, our their mind on an issue. Observing this and reflecting on it later al-
chapter’s board compiled a spreadsheet of legislators, their views lowed me to realize that our future advocacy efforts should focus
on the issues we were advocating for, and records of their voting on establishing a strong rapport with aides and congress people as
history. If a legislator’s history suggested they may oppose our ini- that allows for actual mindset change.
tiatives, we would brainstorm ways to find a common ground, and
then work from there to get our point across. It was important for An integral part of advocacy work involves
us to go into meetings calm and collected. Going in guns blazing forming connections – what connections did
and spewing out what we knew might be met with resistance would you form during this experience?
be unproductive, so we avoided it. Even with this approach though, Ryan: While we did make connections with the legislators, I
we still did meet legislators who thought differently than us. How- think the more important connections I made were with fellow
ever, almost universally, we could find something else we had in medical students, Texas physicians, especially those from the
common with them. BCMS, and the staff of TMA and BCMS. The BCMS physicians
and staff invited us to attend their meetings and were great men-
What was the best part of the day? tors. We saw many of the same BCMS faces every month and
Swetha: The first time I attended First Tuesdays, I was excited made some good connections. We met some of the University of
and overwhelmed; I felt that I knew nothing about advocacy but the Incarnate Word and UT Dell medical students on multiple oc-
was reassured that I would learn a great deal throughout the day. casions as well; forming connections at this stage in our training
And that was completely true. My favorite part, at the end of the gives me confidence that I will have a strong network of physician
day, was the increase in my knowledge level and how much more advocates when I practice.

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