Alliance sets course for 2000 and beyond

Holding candidates' feet to the fire on health care issues and crusading to eliminate school and family violence top the AMA Alliance's 2000 agenda.

By Bonnie Booth, amednews staff. Feb. 21, 2000.

At a twice-yearly gathering, AMA Alliance leaders celebrate the work they have successfully completed and prepare themselves for the work still ahead.

It is, says AMA Alliance President-Elect Susan Paddack, a battery recharge. "There is a tremendous energy level. It's especially exciting because it is designed for county president-elects, our future leaders. A lot of these people haven't had the national exposure before. It's exciting because everybody learns from each other and sees the potential of what we can do together."

Paddack sees that initial exposure to other Alliance leaders as key to developing county leaders into state and national leaders. So she emphasizes the importance of unified involvement.

Paddack, who will take over as Alliance president in June, gave more than 200 leaders at this month's confluence a preview of her leadership goals. Unity was on top of the list.

"Each one of the good things that we do -- community by community, county by county, state by state -- is like an individual brush stroke in a painting by Monet, done with so much thought, care and precision that we don't always think to stand back and see how hundreds of other alliances nationwide are adding their own unique colors to our canvas.

"So I ask you to take a step back with me," she said, "and see the whole beautiful picture and understand how, through federated membership, we collectively can have an enormous impact on the entire nation's health and well-being."

Paddack, of Ada, Okla., has been active in her local and state alliance for several years. At the national level, she has served as secretary, treasurer and field director and on various committees.

Efforts "pack a great big punch"

Although much of the Alliance's work is at the grassroots local level, the organization's members also can be found working alongside physicians at the state and national level of organized medicine, especially in the legislative arena.

Several Alliance members paid visits to their legislators in Washington, D.C., last fall during the AMA's Grassroots Conference.

"Even small commitments to legislation can pack a big punch if done on a federated basis," Paddack said. "Take a look at how we triumphed when the House of Representatives passed a Patients' Bill of Rights that was stronger than we ever dreamed possible. That triumph represented the combined impact of hundreds, maybe thousands, of Federation members."

Alliance members also are participating in the AMA's National House Call campaign, designed to raise the visibility of health care issues during the presidential election process.

Paddack told confluence participants they must play a role in getting the more than 120 million registered voters who didn't cast ballots in the 1998 election to the polls in 2000 and in registering even more to vote. "There is one overarching issue that ought to concern us all as we approach the first elections of the new millennium: the need to work together with our state medical society legislation committees and the critical importance of voter registration," she said.

Commitment to stemming violence

But any move toward greater political activity will not take away from the Alliance's activities to stem family and youth violence, areas in which their programs were making an impact long before so much media and political attention.

"We can continue to make the most difference through our antiviolence efforts," Paddack said. "SAVE [Stop America's Violence Everywhere] is getting national recognition as a grassroots effort."

Paddack said the Alliance's "Save Schools from Violence" initiative, new in 1999, will figure prominently in the group's agenda for the next year. "We will be encouraging the county alliances to go out and adopt more schools and to get our materials that teach conflict resolution and self-esteem-building into the schools."

The Alliance already has contributed to Colin Powell's America's Promise project by providing 1 million children with those materials.

"We have reached more children in less time than we ever could have dreamed," she said. "Now that we have met our goal, we plan to exceed it in the year ahead."