Practice

Missouri OT advocates meet with Representative Todd Richardson, Speaker of the House (back
row, center).
Missouri OT advocates meet with Representative Bart
Korman (third from right).
PHOTOGRAPHS: TOP: COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR.
BOTTOM/: COURTESY OF ANDREA STAYZER AND NNAZARETH COLLEGE
PHOTOGRAPHS OF STATE CAPITOLS © GETTY IMAGES
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Schedule. Pick and reserve
a date. Make sure it is
during the time legislators
are in session. End
of session is very busy, so you may
want to avoid that time frame, as you
will be granted fewer meetings. Try
to choose the same date each year.
For example, in Missouri, we have
Hill Day on the 4th Wednesday in
February every year. Keeping the date
consistent will keep it on everyone’s
calendar.
3
Invite. Send an invitation
to Hill Day to all licensed
occupational therapy
practitioners throughout
your state. Work with your state’s
occupational therapy licensure board
to obtain their mailing addresses.
Offer contact hours. Email or call
all legislators and legislative assistants
inviting them to meet with the
occupational therapy experts on Hill
Day. Provide personal invitations the
morning of the event to each office.
4
Educate. Once your Hill
Day message is determined,
educate all attendees on
that message. Provide brief,
written information or have information
available for mobile devices.
Assist your attendees in identifying
their elected officials. Make this a
requirement for registration.
5
Organize. Match constituents
with their legislators
for meetings. If a practitioner
or student has a
personal relationship or connection
with a legislator, schedule a meeting!
6
Hold the meetings. Meetings
will usually be brief;
usually around 5 minutes.
Meetings with legislators
should always have more than
one occupational therapy practitioner
and/or student present. Pair
students with practitioners and
educators for role modeling and
creation of future occupational
therapy advocates.
7
Say “thank you.” Make sure
you recognize all occupational
therapy attendees
at least verbally and thank
them for their participation. In
addition, have volunteers write thank
you notes after their meetings with
legislators. During Missouri OT on
the Hill Day, a “thank you” note table
is set up for easy and timely completion.
All thank you notes are hand
delivered by occupational therapy
volunteers by the end of the day.
OT students from Nazareth College and Bryant and
Stratton College in Rochester, New York, meet with
Senator Joseph Robach.
OT PRACTICE • AUGUST 22, 2016
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