Despite a winter storm shutting down Washington, D.C., more than 150 medical students took to Capitol Hill (photo below) to spread their message: Adequate funding of graduate medical education (GME) is essential to ensuring patient access to current and future medical services.
Dubbed #AMAsnowday on social media, the students trekked to their representatives’ offices and snapped photos of themselves to post to their representatives’ Facebook pages. They also tweeted their experiences getting to the Hill.
“I think everyone around here was pretty terrified a day ago,” said William Pearce, AMA Government Relations Advocacy Fellow and third-year medical student at the University of South Florida. “But it gave us a wonderful opportunity to advocate in a way we’ve never been able to do.”
The students began the day with a talk from Sen. John Barrasso, MD, chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and a former member of the AMA’s Medical Student Section. The snow day afforded Sen. Barrasso time to speak with the students for much longer than planned.
Matt Heinz, MD, director of provider outreach in the Office of Intergovernmental and External Affairs, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, also was able to speak to students for longer than scheduled in an interactive session.
Nearly every meeting with lawmakers was cancelled, except for offices for representatives from Washington state and Alaska, Pearce said, but the students remained positive.
“We’ve had 12 advocacy days, and we’ve been doing it more or less the same way, and it’s worked,” he said. “But this gave us a wonderful opportunity to try something that could be more effective. Many more people can see our message.”
