Please Ask Your Members of Congress to Co-Sponsor and Support Passage of the Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act
U.S. is The Only Industrialized Nation that Offers Transplantation Without Full Coverage of Immunosuppressive Medications
*Visit the NEJM Website and view the prespective entitled, Penny Wise, Pound Foolish? Coverage Limits on Immunosuppression after Kidney Transplantation*
Please ask your:
2 Members of the U.S. Senate to Co-Sponsor:
S. 1454, Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act
1 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives to Co-Sponsor:
H.R. 2969, Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act
How Do I Do This?
1.) Call the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121;
2.) Ask to be transferred to the offices of your Members of Congress
(You have 3 of them);
3.) Once you are transferred, ask to speak with the Congressional office's Health Care Legislative Assistant;
4.) Request or leave a message indicating that as a transplant professional, from the Member's Congressional district or state, that you strongly urge the Member of Congress to co-sponsor House bill H.R. 2969 or Senate Bill S. 1454.
If you do not know the names of your 1 member of the U.S. House of Representatives or 2 U.S. Senators, you may go online to www.congress.org and there will be a site for you to enter your zip code and secure the names of your elected officials.
Background
The Comprehensive Immunosuppressive Drug Coverage for Kidney Transplant Patients Act currently includes 53 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives and 10 co-sponsors in the Senate. The House bill was introduced by Congressmen Michael Burgess (R-TX) and Ron Kind (D-WI). The Senate bill was introduced by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Thad Cochran (R-MS). The legislation has broad support from all transplant stakeholders and no known opposition. For more than ten years the legislation has enjoyed bipartisan and bicameral support.
LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT – NOVEMBER, 2011
As I write my final comments, I am very grateful to have had the opportunity this past year to serve as the President of our Buckeye Chapter. Your Board of Directors provided the membership with their expertise, passion and commitment. I am proud of all that we accomplished this year.
Secretary, Kristy Stenberg did a great job of getting our meeting minutes out to the BOD and all communications to the membership in a timely manner. This helped our meetings to run smoothly and efficiently and membership to know what was going on. “Congratulations” to Kristy and Matt on their new addition to the family, Katie (she’s a cutie).
Lisa Wills, Treasurer, has maintained our financials and is always cognizant of our spending. She has been an asset to us by her money management skills and computerization of our books and she will be starting her fourth year in this position. “Thank You!” Our chapter gave four educational grants to members in good standing for 2011. This is a yearly program funded by the raffles.
The 9th Annual Focus on Transplantation conference “The Modern Era: Travel, Transition, Technology and Transplantation” was a huge success because of the hard work of Judy McCoy and her co-chair, Julie Roman along with their committee. We had 100 attendees that included transplant coordinators, case managers and nursing students. We raised $1133 for our education grant fund through the wonderful raffle items at the conference. The lucky winners took home great baskets. “Thank You” to the many vendors that supported us. Without your continued support this would not be possible. The attendees’ evaluations overwhelmingly stated “Excellent conference and looking forward to next year” along with some great ideas and comments to consider while planning our 2012 conference. By the way, Friday, October 26, 2012 at the CCF Beachwood campus is our conference date. Jessica Hissem (UH/CMC) and Deb Plavney (CCF) have agreed to share the duties with me for our 2012 conference. We are looking for committee volunteers to help us. Please contact me if you are interested.
Have you visited our website recently: www.itnsbuckeye.org YOU SHOULD! Peggy George and Lisa Sowers have tirelessly managed our website throughout the year. In 2012, all e-mails from Kristy Stenberg will direct members (via a link) to our website to get all updates regarding dinner meetings, journal clubs and general information. We are in the Technology Age. Please remember to keep us posted of any changes to your e-mail address. Volunteers are needed to help with the website.
Our 2011 membership is at 87. This is a record number of members for us. Mary Penko, managed our membership and did a fine job communicating and managing these records. When renewing your membership for 2012, remember that we process what you write on the forms, please make sure that they are legible.
Shawn Paschal and Val Keenan managed our two dinner meetings and three journal clubs with eight contact hours provided. They worked hard at their first year of co-chairing the educational committee. It takes an enormous amount of time to coordinate the programs and provide contact hours. Job well done!
We have had the pleasure of working with Debbie Protiva, our elections chair and one of our founding members (2001). She has been committed to us with her continued support of her role on the BOD. Debbie’s recommendation for electronic voting is our goal in 2012. We will be reviewing the by-laws for our chapter in early 2012 to ask for support, by the membership, of this change. This year Debbie retired from her position of 40 years at CCF. Debbie also announced her resignation, at the end of this year, from her board position. On behalf of the Buckeye Chapter, a big “Thank You” goes to Debbie for all that she has done for us. You will be missed. Enjoy your time and we’ll be thinking of you fondly! In the interim, Amy Patterson, 2012 President Elect will be chairing this committee. “Congratulations Amy!!”
WE NEED YOUR HELP!! We are looking for committee members in all areas to support our Buckeye Chapter. This is a great way to network and learn about your organization.
DID YOU KNOW…
- · That by chairing a committee you earn 25 CEPTC’s (12.5 CEPTC’s-co-chair)?
- · That when you are President of the Buckeye Chapter you can attend a national or international conference/meeting with a generous stipend to support the travel?
CONSIDER GETTING INVOLVED, IT IS REWARDING AND FUN!!
Our 2012, President, Heather Dorsey, will begin her term with our January BOD meeting. Heather will continue to lead us forward with the Buckeye Chapter’s commitment to education and networking for all our members.
In summary, I want to extend to the 2012 BOD my commitment to support our mission of financial stability, education and networking. We are a chapter committed to our membership. It has been a pleasure to work with all of you. I learned a lot through each of you. “Thank You” for all that you have done to make this a successful year for the Buckeye Chapter. We had a solid team and worked well together
Deb Damas, RN, BA
President Emeritus-2012, President-2011
440-241-0800 (cell)
