Advocacy and Why It’s For You – #XchangeSA

- Welcome to the March Exchange Chat. I'm Yester Iftekari, your 2019-2020 APTA Student Assembly Director of Communications. If you haven't been part of the Hashtag Exchange SA chat before or even if you have, remember you can interact here on Facebook, live and post your questions in the comments down below and or there's a Twitter conversation happening right now and you can follow with the Hashtag #XchangeSA for that. We want to know who's joining us on the chat tonight so be sure to shout out your name, year and school down in the comments and whether you're a DPT student, PTA student, fresh PT, or anybody else. I am so excited because tonight we get to talk with somebody that I've been dying to interview Dr. Kendra Lucas. Before I let Kendra introduce herself further, I have just two quick announcements for you all. Registration for Federal Advocacy Forum is still open and we'll be talking a lot more about that in this chat, so stay tuned. And the APTA pulse blog is a great way to stay up to date on what PT and PTA students are doing and thinking around the country. We're always looking for contributors to the pulse blog and for more information or to submit a piece, email [email protected]. Alrighty, let's go ahead and get right into this chat because I know I have a lot of questions, advocacy related, and Kendra is just the absolute expert on this, so I'm so excited to be talking with you today. Kendra, would you like to introduce yourself further? - Yes, so I am just so excited to be here tonight and just share my passion and my heart for PT Advocacy. And I guess I will just start out with my story a little bit because my path is a little bit unique and kind of that's what got me involved and so engaged in this awesome profession. So I have been a proud APTA member for seven years and advocacy has been a huge part of that for the last five. So I've kind of gone through quite a bit and kind of learned the ropes and it's been quite a unique path. So I'm happy to share that tonight. So I graduated physical therapy school in 2016 from the University of Dayton in Ohio. Go Flyers, woo, woo, woo. They are crushing it in basketball right now. So I'm proud to be a flyer tonight for sure. So I currently work as an aquatic physical therapist in a hospital-based outpatient orthopedic setting. And I was first introduced to the concept of PT Advocacy at National Student Conclave and I was walking around the exhibit hall and came across the PT Pac Booth. And I had never heard of PT Pac before, so I was curious to learn more. And Brad Thuringer, the coolest PTA you'll ever meet in his awesome glasses and in this red jacket, was chatting with me about advocacy and what they were working on and how I could get more involved. And you know, and that was the spark that lit the flame for me, honestly. And that next year I attended my very first PT Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill. And that was the most energizing feeling. I remember standing there with a hashtag, PT Transforms sign. And I was surrounded by 1000 like-minded individuals from across the country. And we all had one mission. And that was professional advocacy. And as I met with members of Congress or their staff to talk about the future of physical therapy, I saw firsthand what effect I could have on moving our profession forward. And to be honest, like that day was the very first time I truly understood the importance of intentionally being an advocate for our growing profession. So in my last year of PT school, I had this crazy cool opportunity to do an internship at the APTA headquarters, which I am super pumped to see what the new headquarters will look like next year. Just going behind the scenes and seeing how all these moving parts work gave me such a great perspective. I got to, while I was there, I got to attend Congressional events, fundraisers, Capitol Hill meetings with lobbyists. Of course, I got to take the private tour and tour the Capitol. And probably one of my favorite moments was attending my congressman, Michael Turner's birthday party. And he's also a fellow flyer from Ohio and such a highlight. And the main project that I worked on while I was there was a little thing called the Physical Therapy Licensure Compact, which was at ground zero. I mean, it was just starting out and it's been super cool to watch. It grew over the last few years. Now I believe 19 states are part of it. And I'm excited because Ohio just introduced legislation to become a compact state. - So very cool. - And, oh, for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about as far as the compact, basically the compact makes it a lot easier to practice in other states that aren't your home state. So practice of physical therapy occurs in the state where the patient is located at the time of the encounter. So whatever state your patient is in, that's where you have to have a license to practice. So there are a lot of barriers, of course associated with fees, access. And the compact really simplifies and speeds up that process, which is fantastic for travel PTs and military and really gives us great access to telehealth services as well. - Yes. - But getting back on track after my internship, I served as the PTPAC student liaison, which shout out to Lindsay Dullman, who is, I hope you're watching, shout out to you 'cause you're doing awesome job in that role and super proud of you to watch you grow. She's a rock star, so watch out. And then of course two years after graduation, I was elected to serve on the PTPAC board of trustees. And I am very proud and honored to be the youngest PTPAC trustee in history. So yeah. - That is awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here. I have a lot of questions. (laughs) - Let me just ask away. - I really love that you brought up kind of the connection between, well, the licensure compact, which is, that must be so cool to see how that's grown, kind of from the ground up. And you brought up like telehealth services and like needing to be licensed where your patient's at, and we just did an exchange chat on telehealth and telemedicine. - Perfect. - So I think that's absolutely so, like how those things kind of, these things, these issues on existence silos, right? And how they all over and kind of influence each other. So I love that sort of connection there. Okay, so I want to ask you about the PTPAC. - Yes. - If you could tell us a little bit about like, what's this PTPAC stand for? What does it mean to be a trustee? You brought up the red jacket. What is the red jacket? And why do we see people in red jackets at various instances and at the house? Just tell us a little bit more about that and give us some more background on the pack. - Okay, so the Physical Therapy Political Action Committee or PTPAC, we are at the front lines of advocacy. So it is the only fundraising organization that provides access to an influence of legislators at the federal level. So, and really, we have, we provide access to an influence of legislators to champion PT legislative interests at the federal level. So, state packs are different than federal pack. I think that's an important difference to make because the state packs focus more on state-specific issues like direct access, like the legislature, the compact. And federal packs work on issues that impact the profession as a whole. So, PTPAC is a federal pack. And none of your APTA membership dues go to PTPAC. That is illegal. And we rely on donations from members to do what we do. And there's also a difference. So, let's see. Basically, we need to, we use those funds to get that face to face time. So, we can share the importance of physical therapy and healthcare. And how our work makes a positive difference. So, honestly, if legislators don't know what we do, they don't know how to help us. So, every day bills come across the desk of legislators who are not PT's or PTA's. But, who, that will impact our practice, our patients, and our profession. So, having this access builds relationships and those relationships matter. And so, part of my role, as a trustee. So I get to rock the red jacket, which I love. And it, you know, to be honest with you, it is asking people for money. So I recruit and retain donors, which apparently I have no problem doing funny story. As as class president, I oversaw class activities and helped organize fun razors and our class did a golf outing fundraiser. So naturally, you know, I sent a Facebook message to a PTA president, Sharon Dunn. And of course, I invited her to attend our golf outing all the way in Ohio. And she had a conflict, bummer, with I think it was like the state policy forum in Denver. But and she couldn't make it. But I asked her, it was like, would you be interested in sponsoring a whole? And and you know what? She did. Oh my god. Sure, signed me up. And so Sharon Dunn sponsored a whole of my classes golf outing. And that, you know, just something that comes so naturally to me is being able to talk to anybody. Yeah. And no matter if you are a senator, a practice owner or the president of the APTA, people are people. And it's all about building relationships. And as a trustee, I get to build relationships with people all across the country. I get to be the face of PT pack at conferences where you will see me rocking that red jacket at the PT pack booth. And you know, I'm responsible for staying up to date on the latest things happening legislatively. Things that will impact our profession. And you know, I also get to mentor future advocates, which is really awesome. I like that. I I love being a trustee. It is so much fine. I get to work alongside what the people that I call the greats. You know, they are past APTA presidents. They're book authors and practice owners. And they treat me like an equal. They listen to my crazy ideas. They inspire and support me. I am just truly grateful to be a young leader and pave the way for future leaders because we are the future and our voices matter. Absolutely. And I love that you you talked about not only your time as a student, but also now as kind of like one of the younger clinicians involved in these efforts. Because I think that, you know, it's easy for us to fall into the mindset of well, I'm just a student or well, I'm just a new grad. And I have a lot of other things that like, my money needs to go to right now or that my effort or my time needs to go to right now. I know that I personally am a third year in my last rotation. Like I need to apply for jobs soon. Like I need to when I'm taking the boards. And you know, all those things that feel very urgent. And sort of like, you need my immediate attention. But better advocacy forum is coming up this month. And that also, you could say, is immediate and urgent. And so I love that you feel like at home as a younger clinician in this space and that you don't feel like, oh, I'll do that later in my career. Like I'll all wait till I get to where they're at. And then I'll start contributing. Because I think that you said a very positive example for us in that it's never too early to get involved. I mean, talking to Sharon Dunn and asking her to plunge their whole as a student is something that I think I would have been very afraid. So definitely if you don't see you, I'm very, very proud of you for that. So you said that it comes very naturally to you to talk to people and to build those relationships. And I think that that's a really great way to put it is that you're just building relationships which is something that, you know, we as students, we do all the time. That with our classmates, professors, our patients, whoever. But can you tell me a little bit more about what various involvement opportunities look like for students? So how do we get involved? Can we donate to the pack? You know, can we get involved with talking to the legislators and how how does how does that go and what does that look like? So there are a lot of ways to get involved and you can be the 62nd advocate with the APT action app or you can go to Capitol Hill and talk with them yourself. And so I think there is a wide variety of opportunities to get involved in advocacy. Social media is awesome. You can follow legislators, you can tag them when you participate in advocacy events or activities and some things to follow is, of course, #PTAdvocacy and #PTPAC. But so that's a great way, of course, the APT action app. You can send pre-populated emails directly to your legislators and it takes about a minute. If you don't have it right now, download it because it is a great resource. It also has the talking points on the latest bills that we're working on. So you can pull them up and get a quick summary of if you're like, oh, what is that? I heard about this, but I want to know more. You can go directly to that app and it'll give you some great talking points on what to look for and that kind of thing. So, of course, you can attend a national advocacy dinner and that is basically you can do any, you can order pizza and have a panel of advocates and you can, you know, do some like Q&A sections and invite a legislator to that event, that kind of thing and really start to build more about community for PT advocacy because we all play a role. And so that's another great way to just come together and learn what's going on and kind of get a pulse on what's happening and how you can help. You can participate in flash action strategies, which there is going to be another one coming up, I think in the fall. So September, be on the lookout for that. The flash action strategy is basically a two-day push on whatever we are focusing on. So this year, it may be on PT pack. Last year, we were on more of like the lower equipment and the national service core. So there's whatever is the latest hot topic. We can focus on that and take action immediately in that two-day push. And so that's really exciting. You can meet with legislators. So you can actually invite legislators to come to your school or to your clinical site and the clinic, which is really awesome because then they get to see you in your environment and what you're learning and oh, it is a doctoral level together like well, that's awesome. Or just different things because PT is so vast. There's so many different areas that we are in and just more legislators to really understand what we do so they can help us even better is a great way to get more involved. Of course, federal advocacy forum is so awesome. Like I said, you will be so energized. You don't really, you don't really even have to prepare. You just have to show up and have an open mind and be ready to learn and rock and roll and because they want to hear from you. You're their constituent. They want to hear what you have to say. And it's really awesome, you know, just to have the opportunity. I've been to four federal advocacy forums, mostly when I was a, you know, two of them when I was a student. And I, you know, you talk with legislators, you talk with their staff and tell them your stories. They want to hear from you. So it's really, there's so many opportunities. Of course, like the student advocacy challenge is out there. So you can have more opportunities for that to, for your school to be recognized as being involved in PT advocacy. So yeah, I think that covers all the different ways. And I can share a resource too, like the one-pager that we normally have at like conferences. We can kind of put that out on social media too. Yeah, that'd be great. Okay. So yeah, so lots of different different ways to get involved kind of depending on your interests. So I love that that's kind of like the hell to get involved. But now say that I push back and say Kendra, I have to be my to-do list, like, oh, shit. Great. And so what if I say, that's great for everybody else who wants to get involved in advocacy. They have all the different avenues available to them that they want. But it's not for me. Oh, yeah, I've actually heard that before. Okay. So yeah, just like the the perception that, oh, advocacy is not for me, you know, you know, we'll let somebody else take care of that kind of thing. But everyone's an advocate. Yes, even you to those who are questioning. And you know, just think about it. How important is physical therapy to you? How important is access to care or longer payment or fighting the opioid epidemic? You know, on your clinicals, you may have noticed some barriers that we're having. So direct access, dry co-pays, all that paperwork that we have to do, reimbursement, you know, patients, you know, driving an hour to come see you. These are all opportunities to improve and to have better access and really eliminate those roadblocks. Advocacy is about using your voice to speak up for that patient in front of you and for yourself as a professional and we have an awesome PT community and part of that word community is unity and there is power in numbers numbers matter and if we come together we can use our collective voices to make an impact so that we can practice. At the top of our license into the full extent of our education. We can give our patients a voice. We can give them the care that they deserve and so yes you are an advocate and your voice matters and it's up to you how you use it. I want to make sure that we have plenty of time to talk about this. I want to go ahead and jump into federal advocacy forum because it is coming up later this month and so to me tell us a little bit about what is federal advocacy forum, where is it, who gets involved. And then also if you can talk to me a little bit about I know that when I was a person second ear I was really afraid to go to FAS. I unfortunately have never gotten a go just because of scheduling but not knowing how to talk to legislators and not knowing like knowing what I want to advocate for and knowing why these issues are important to me but then being afraid of almost communicating them in a way that would then be in the end of it. And that was my year was that I was going to almost do harm. So can you talk a little bit about FAS in general and then help call some of the anxieties that some people might be feeling about. I've never done this before and now this is on a federal level. Yes. So if you're on the edge of thinking if you should go or not go go because it is so it is such an incredible experience and you will be hooked. And the first day is really all about training so you can know nothing about any of the bills that you know are going to be talked about or how to talk to a legislator. You don't really have to know anything you just have to bring yourself because like I said you're an advocate already so you already got that going for you. And you just show up the first day is training so you're going to be with the experts. You're in great hands. I mean just looking at the lineup it is awesome good. So you are in great hands to really learn the ropes of what the issues are how to talk with the legislator and ultimately they want to hear stories. So what you're bringing to the table is stories about what you are experiencing even in your clinicals or your own personal thing with your all your loans that you have. You can share that that weight with your legislator in front of you they want to hear from you even as a student you even as a student seriously you have a voice and please use it. So that's the first day the second day you will go on to the hill. So this is in Washington DC and it is such a powerful building. Of course because those that's where all these decisions are made that have directly affect us. And so you kind of feel that I don't know at least I do I just like get so energized and then you have an agenda and you'll be grouped into states. So my Ohio team will go and we'll divide and conquer kind of things. So sometimes these meetings overlap and you can't all go to the same meeting. You can kind of separate out and go to talk with the legislators and staffers about these issues and that kind of thing. Thank them if they've sponsored and backed the backed us in the past. Of course, thank them for their support because those are our champions. And so we definitely need to thank them for their support and hopefully they'll support us again in future efforts. And then there's the debrief afterwards. So after you have this most energizing day ever of going in the halls of Congress and telling them what you do. Why you love physical therapy and why things should change a little bit to make it better. And then you just can go write your thank you notes at the end. Do any kind of debrief as far as, you know, does this congressman need to have a follow up or kind of things like that where APTA staff can follow up with them if needed after we have our after we kind of take over Capitol Hill. And like I said, there's power in numbers. So if they see a couple thousand of us troops in around with our two SPT and PT transforms, you know, that really does make an impact. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And that's great. And so I think that that's such an important message is that no matter what you're not going to be alone. And you will have a giant community around you and then you'll have your smaller community relatively within your state and talking to your state legislators. And so, you know, I interviewed my different Aaron who is the advocacy project committee chair at CSM. And we talked about that too that you can be kind of on the front lines and be that person who's like speaking up if that's what you want to be and you want to go and learn and just listen and roll in and experience it. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that because like we said, there's power numbers. Yes, just being there and being a presence. That's going to be felt. And that's that's important. So no pressure. Yeah, that's exactly right. You can, you don't have to speak up in those meetings. If you don't feel comfortable, you can just watch sit back, see how the process works. But, you know, feel free to step outside of your comfort zone a little bit and speak up. Yeah, it's a great learning experience and opportunity. Outside the books, for sure. Beyond the books, beyond your clinic and really advocating for change. So it's very exciting. Absolutely, absolutely. So what can students expect this year at FAM? What are some of the issues that are going to discuss? Oh, awesome. So the one of course that comes to mind is the National Health Service Corps for the loan or payment program. So this would add PTs to the list of providers to be able to serve for two years in rural areas and exchange for $50,000 and for your loans. So right now there's not a rehab component in this program, which serves 11.4 million individuals across the country. So this is a huge opportunity to ensure that they have access to non-formological options for prevention, management, treatment of pain and even chronic conditions such as diabetes or stroke obesity to really improve their overall quality of life. That's a big one that I, again, I think that students can really speak to because so we're living it. I mean, I have a house and loans as I'm sure all of you can relate. So this would be a great opportunity to get our name added to the list. Another one is paperwork. So that the prior authorization, administrative burden, that, to be honest, is the least favorite part of the job is the paperwork, but especially when patients are having to wait to start physical therapy. And this is medically necessary care, and they have to wait before they get pre-author, before they get authorized authorization to start PT, you know, so really that bill would eliminate that administrative, those administrative barriers that inhibit access to Medicare beneficiaries, you know, a bottom line is, you know, let's cut the delay, the paperwork and just have more time for patient care and make sense. So we are also working very hard to stop the proposed 8% Medicare cuts scheduled to take effect next year. Hashtag, flight the cut, you'll hear that a lot. And then something hot off the press, I was just talking with Laura Kevel from APTA, and she does the grassroots and everything and stays up to date as well. But she filled me in that hot off the press, there's this brand new bill called promoting physical activity for Americans act. And so it would require the department of health and human services to provide evidence based physical activity recommendations for the general public every 10 years. So right now less than 5% of adults participate in 30 minutes of physical activity each day, and more than 80% of adolescents do not meet the guidelines for youth. Basically what this would also do is set a standard for the federal government. So when they are making recommendations to say build a park. they have this guideline in place for physical activity. that they can refer to. Right. So yes, very exciting things happening. Yes, and so there's always so many things happening, and that's just a snapshot, honestly, of what really is happening behind the scenes. Okay, I have a question for you, for me, that I kind of thought about. So I want to know a little bit about inevitably when someone throws their passion towards something, right, there's going to be setbacks or there's going to be obstacles to overcome or there's always going to be like the next thing to kind of work towards. And especially I'm assuming and advocacy efforts because there are constant policy changes, proposals and things like that that may not always work in our fingers. So can you tell me, you know, so what keeps you going and sort of what keeps you like excited and dispassionate and motivated from starting as a student and now and like clearly no plans of stuff that I'm seeing. I'm a little bit more about that. I think that could serve as really good inspiration for us. Like if we start to think, well, what's the point, you know, or even like in our studies and things like that, if we start to encounter those setbacks, like how do we keep going? Yeah. I mean, in Washington DC, if you're if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. So what that means is someone else is going to step in and kind of make those changes. And so I don't know about you, but I do not want any other healthcare profession, like chiropractors, empties, or really any other profession dictating the way I practice. So it comes from me wanting to you protect our turf, to be honest. And I really believe strongly that it is my professional responsibility to advocate for my patients and for this awesome profession. So yeah, I think it comes from that heart for just protecting it. And really, it is about building relationships. And this is a marathon, a sprint. You know, yes, we just repeal the Medicare therapy cap once and for all. And that is awesome. That also took 20 years, people. So I mean, things do not happen overnight. It is really about being persistent, being consistent, and really using our collective voice to make a difference in impact. And so we must stay on the front lines, or else someone else is going to come and take that away from us. And I'm just not going to let that happen under my watch. So what keeps me going? And yeah, I think I hope that inspires you guys too, because we are the future. And really, it's going to be up to us to secure a voice in a future for our profession. Yeah, I love it. I almost wish I had asked you that at the end, because that was like the most stated closing statement. But we still have some time. I think this is going back now to FAS. Jake has a question. So he has Kendra. How can I help a student build relationships with my lawmakers? Yes. So great question. So I think it just goes back to reaching out to their office. Like you can actually call your legislators office and talk with the legislative aid or and kind of let them know you. You can send those emails and they have to respond to you. And then like what I'm doing is going to these fundraisers events to support people who are supporting us. So tomorrow, I'm actually going to a fundraiser event for my friend, Nourage, Antani. In Ohio, he's a state representative and he's actually running for state senate. And so tomorrow, I'm going to get all dressed up and go support him at an event because I know that he's going to support us. And so it's really about, again, building relationships and they're people. They're just people just like us. And so I think that is a great way is just to just reach out and put PT on the map. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Well, great. Before I start to kind of shift away from FIS and being in DC, is there anything else that you wanted to talk about there that we didn't get to? Oh gosh. I guess circling back, because I'm sure this will will come up. Like the I glazed over the eight percent cut. So basically, the eight percent cut, in September, we sent out this form letter to kind of get members to sign on. And I want to say that it is really because of like the generosity of our members and those relationships that we built with those dollars that we were able to basically have this this representative Bill Johnson who kind of formulated this letter for us because he immediately took action when this happened. And it wasn't just us, by the way, it was a whole whole other list of providers who also got cuts were the potential for cuts. And so he had our back immediately and took action and he put together this bipartisan letter for us that was urging CMS like, hey, rethink those cuts because PT is awesome. And why are you doing that? So and then that prompted us as key contacts. So I'm a key contact. And so I kind of serve as like a liaison to those legislators, right? So I contacted the office and and so did others like all the way across the country. And in 48 hours, we were able to get 55 members of Congress to sign on to that letter and say, hey, what you do in CMS? Like, I think so. Right. In those words, right? Yeah, exactly. And 40 of those 55 were a direct result of PT PAC. And I think that is pretty impressive that that's that's because of those relationships that we build. And that's where that money goes to kind of support that. So and then now we have 99 members total that. And so really relationships matter. Yeah. You know, so fight the cut. Yeah. I fight the cut. So what if I can't make it to DC? Is there a way that I can be involved in that efforts in DC? How do I stay up to date on what's happening there? Like, will there be a summary sent out of what happens? Because you mentioned the debrief that happens. Physically there after. Yeah. How did the rest of us kind of stay engaged and involved? Yeah. So during that time, it's going to be really important to use your APT action app to contact your members of Congress. Because they're hearing it, of course, from those people who go and represent us as a profession. But if you can't make it to DC, but you still want to help, go ahead and send some more letters to your legislators. Because make a said numbers matters. So if they're getting thousands of letters on, you know, this lower payment or the 8% cut, they might pay more attention to that. Because they've got a lot of things going on. And if we can put that on their radar, they will know kind of how to vote when the time comes. This will be more educated. So I would say, get that APT action app out and do your parts while everyone else is in person doing theirs. So yeah. Cool. Go download it, y'all. Yeah. So question here about, I don't know if you mentioned the coffee club, but can you talk a little bit about what? That's something that I saw signs for at CSM I had never heard of before. So I'm super interested in learning more. So how somebody can become a student star. I thought those are events too, right? This is a student star. Like add to your badge at conferences. So tell me a little bit about this. Yes. So the student star is if you are a member and you donate $20 to PT pack, you become a student star. And what that means is obviously you are supporting and backing the pack, which backs your future. So very important. And also it's basically you can get like a ribbon and some recognition on our website, of course. But it's like the group of students and you can only be a student to be part of the student star club. And so if you're not a student star, it's $20. So totally worth it. to #backthepetipack. New and. and become part of this awesome club. And for those of you who are about to graduate, I am super excited to share with you this new Hashtag Coffee Club, specifically for people who PTs and PTAs zero to five years out of school. - Oh, that's really cool. - Yes, I'm really excited. So it is a $5 per month donation to PTPAC. If you are a member. And so for the cost of a cup of coffee, so basically just buy PTs and come call me and your contribution really does go a long way. - Yeah. - So yeah, so really that club is, my vision is to really inspire conversations and create connections and really build a strong sense of community or PTA advocacy. So yeah, that's been kind of on my list for like the last couple years. And my trustees have been very supportive and of my again, crazy ideas sometimes. But this has been something that I've been really wanting to do for a while and it's finally here. So we just launched it and at CSM, we had our first coffee club event. So those will be more to come at future conferences and there will be specific education and mentoring available for advocacy. So there's gonna be some awesome content coming up that I'm super pumped about. And yeah, so that's been a very fun thing to work on. I'm very proud of it. And it's something that will now exist forever. And just to be part of that will is really awesome. Yeah. - Congratulations, that's so exciting. - And I love coffees, so it's even better. - Well, I know me too. And that's why I like this club my eye 'cause there's so much going on at CSM you know that you're trying to like sneak it all in. I've seen coffee club over and over and that's what is that. So that's really important because when you were talking about being a student star, I thought about it and I was like, oh my gosh, I have like two months left. My contribution, like times running out, but so I'm a student that I can give now a student and I can give as a new grad, so it's exciting. Well, very cool. And I think that you probably said this at the very beginning, but just kind of making clear that any money that goes towards like APTA membership do things like that does not go to the pack and that's illegal. And so because I think that was my misconception in the beginning as a first year when I joined APTA, I was like, well, I just paid $80 to be a member. I can't they just pick it out of that. Or I, you know, owe my money. And so making clear that those are two separate entities and that the pack is separate from that. That it's. - Yes. - Yeah, so it's illegal for us to use members to use to support the PT pack in any way. - Yeah, that's right. - And those are federal regulations around that. So and we can only solicit donations from APTA members. So that's another thing. Yeah. But you know, we have to account for, you know, every single dollar and where it's going. And if you do, if you are curious on kind of where that money is going, it's typically, yeah. I mean, like Mike Matlack, who's actually at a fundraiser meeting with a congressman in Florida right now. I mean, like I said, this is happening. This is what we do. We're constantly building those relationships. So shout out to Mike in Florida. I'm jealous of your weather. And so yeah, I mean, he knows exactly where those funds go. So if you have any questions, reach out to him directly, of course, 'cause he is going to know, we don't like publish that, of course, 'cause it'd be so hard to keep that website if we had one up to date on like, oh, we, you know, supported this fundraiser 'cause it's constantly happening. You know, we could like randomly go to a fundraiser tonight. And you know, it just be so hard to keep track of to keep that up to date. So if you do have questions about where that's going, reach out to him. And then, you know, at the end of the year, we do like this, we do share with members like a summary of where those dollars go. And what we've accomplished. So last year, we attended more than 275 political events, which is incredible. I mean, that's amazing. And we rank, we ranked number nine. So ninth among healthcare packs, which is incredible. I would love to see that number higher. But just to say that we are the ninth largest healthcare pack in the country is absolutely incredible. And that's because of our relationships and our generosity of our members. And then we won 91% of U.S. House and 89% of U.S. Senate races in the last election. So we are keeping our friends of physical therapy in, you know, in the White House, you know, in Capitol Hill. So we are also bipartisan, which means we support 50, 50% Republican, 50% Democrat. So and really, if you think about it, PT is nonpartisan. So we have to support both sides of the aisle to move our agenda forward. That's just kind of how it works. And so if you, if that is something holding you up, like if you want to donate, but you really want to only support Democrats, then you can say you can put that on your, on the website or when you go to make your donation, you can, there's a button to push that for that. So if you are, if that's like the only thing that's like holding you up, it's like, well, you can select kind of where, you know, what your personal funds, what party that goes to. So yeah, you all thought of everything. (laughing) The whole process. - So can you tell me more? I'm curious about like these unraziness that are happening and things like that. So I'm sure a lot of things that happen are kind of like invite only. But how do we kind of in this chaos of like keeping up with everything else that we keep up with, keep up with various events that might be happening that we might be able to kind of show our faces at or contribute to and just stay up to date on. Like how do we organize all of that information so that we can know what's happening, contribute and then be able to speak about it with other people? - Yes, so great question actually. So basically during the August recess, which means like the legislators are not really, they're like that calm essentially. So that's like a really great time to reach out and connect with them 'cause they're home, which means you won't have to travel very far. And so now would actually be the time to contact their office if you're wanting to do that. So that's great for like the school visits that I was talking about or if you just want to meet and see what kind of events they're doing, that kind of stuff. You cannot, like what I do is I will also personally donate to like the legislator too. And then that automatically kind of enrolls me on their like invite list. So that's kind of like a little secret strategy that I've learned to kind of stay in the loop 'cause it is hard to kind of know what all is going on. But we do have key contacts for every state, which is like the direct connection for those legislators. So just finding out who those key contacts are in your state is a great resource for you guys 'cause they are definitely in the know of what's happening. And if you want to attend an event, you can always tag along with like the key contact who will most likely be going to that event. So that's another way that you can do that. - All right. - Yeah. - Okay. Lots of good questions here. - I know, right? - Yeah. - Come on. - Okay. So I know that we technically are with the student assembly. So we are all the students. But for either the students currently or those of us who are about to graduate and no longer be students, can you tell me a little bit about how students might get involved in leadership opportunities? So I know that we've you shouted out, Lindsey Golan, we've got her in sales. I'm great things with students. But so we've got the project committee and everybody can you talk to me a little bit more about like other leadership opportunities that we might not be aware of? Like how, if I was like so motivated by this often was like, I'm gonna be in PCPAC trustee. Like how do I get there? You know, like people who are interested in kind of serving at that next level. What sort of-- other opportunities? Do you know if that exists? Wow such a great question. It's really about what excites you and what gets you going? For me it's obviously advocacy that is such my heart and of course like that trustee role fits perfect for that. But there are so many opportunities out there and I think it's even at the state level getting started with your state pack or getting started with some of those leadership positions like I'm also on the conference committee for Ohio. So I help plan the conferences and I feel like a little hostess and it's perfect for me because I can get to introduce you know find speakers to put out some awesome content for our members and go ahead and like introduce those speakers. So it's actually it works out because I get to meet new people who are experts, content experts and leaders in our profession. So that's another opportunity you can be on certain committees like the membership committee of how do you grow your membership in your state or different things like that. So many things I mean the list is crazy and the path is going to be different for everybody. My path is kind of unique because I you know got really involved as a student and then you know to be honest I'm doing things now that are on my 20 year professional development plan and which I never thought was going to happen and then you just kind of say yes to an opportunity in front of you and it's really building those relationships and it's the connections the people you need along the way it is going to conferences putting yourself out there not sticking with just your school your classmates but actually meeting new people because these are the people that you're going to do your profession with this this is your career with these are going to be your PT fam and so get to know them they're awesome but I think just that for me has been great but I would say start it even the state level and talk to the nominating committees at whatever you're thinking about because they are aware of all those different positions available and just by talking to you for a few minutes they can be like oh you know what I have the perfect thing for you so I would talk to those find out who the nominating committee members are because they are responsible for kind of recruiting you know for those positions so that would be a really great opportunity to get to know them and learn what's out there yeah yeah thank you for answering that just because I feel like I think that you run at this point really well and you said it much better than I'm about to but I've been asked to about you know how I got involved at the state level and the national level and I feel like so much of it is just showing up and like you said you need to say yes even when it's hard and even when it's really out of your comfort zone like finding your people within those spaces who can like take you to events and things like that so like if I wanted to go to faf for example I now know people who've been a few times and like to take me and be like no like it'll be totally fine you know because I am someone who like with new opportunities I get nervous but I think constantly showing up and just expressing that interest or doing it more directly like you said by contacting nominating committee and saying like hey I'm here I'm ready to work like you know put me on the slate like give me a job I think that's huge so that goes a long way um okay kind of a fun question here from Chase he asks and it's okay if you don't know this off the top of your head we can always like these later too but he says Kendra other than you obviously top five Twitter accounts to follow for PT advocacy what okay so definitely um Laura Keeville because she is a rock star at APTA I love her so much so definitely huh what's her role so she is the APTA um grassroots coordinator okay um and like government affairs and she is a rock star so she if you um oh I simply if I didn't mention this if you um sign up for PT you can get action alerts on the latest things happening so if there is like an action opportunity um she's actually the ones that sends out those action alerts okay and you can do that on the APTA action app that you all have downloaded by now right yes so um that's a great opportunity um what was your question again I think I lost it that's okay top five Twitter okay I got stuck in Laura because she's so awesome um of course uh PT pack um I would be remiss and um even Norman um yep he is a rock star as well in a fellow trustee of mine uh huh and um Justin Elliott okay uh Cara Gainer yep and I think that's five that is five if there's anyone else you want to mention you're welcome to go beyond five I would say if you're following those people you're in good hands that was very impressive but we can put those accounts on the link afterwards as well um with their Twitter handles and stuff yeah sounds good um I really like these questions here so you don't have to answer all of them just because the timesake but there's two that I really love one is um is there a story that you can share where you know that advocacy made a difference for someone be that a clinician or a patient of the member um and or we try to talk about this a little bit but I just love this is phrase um the question says what would PT look like without advocacy yeah so yeah I guess for you know I I did have to have a conversation with a patient who was um did have to choose between walking and talking before that therapy cap was um you know was uh repealed so I'm glad I don't have to ever do that again um so and that was the story that I brought in to those offices talking with legislators it like I actually had this experience and we need to do something about this because they need both um so that was one that personally really hit me hit me hard um because I had a specific person who I was really um advocating for right and um yeah so and then the last part of that uh the second question was what would PT look like without advocacy yes that would be so scary I mean we wouldn't um we need a voice for our growing profession and if we're voiceless we are going to um lose out on opportunities and um and you know it's just gonna be a different world for us as professionals and for our patients though we've got to continue fighting and um be very vigilant out there and advocate um really so we can secure a future yeah yeah all right the last question for you then I ask all my guess if you could crack and give your student one piece of advice what would you say oh definitely keep your hobbies yeah so you know with with the books and all of this you know it's it's easy to lose sight of that balance and um just keep keep your hobby because you need to be um you need to take care of yourself if you're gonna take care of others for now is a real thing and so my hobby is um I do piano and voice lessons every Tuesday nights um and I love it and so um you know something that is non-PT related to keep you energized and healthy um for you and your patients um so yeah well if you're listening right now I want to know I'm so cute I love to learn as well people so if you want to post your hobbies in the comments I want to read what everybody's hobby yes yes and yeah yeah that's so real um all right Kendra thank you so much for joining us tonight I learned so much um I hope everybody else did too um if people want to reach out to you and keep the conversation going where can they find you Twitter um so uh Kendra underscore uh PT for life um so you can definitely find me um you can direct message me on Facebook or Twitter I'm not so much on Instagram but I should be I should up my Instagram game um but yeah of course and um and if you do want my cell phone number just message me that's probably the easiest way to contact me um is just by texting me so if you if you want that just uh message me and I'll give it to you um but yeah I mean yeah welcome fellow advocates well thank you so much to everyone join this in race. You sure to follow the APCA State Assembly on social media to stay up to date on one of the next exchange chat is going to take place. All right. Have a great night everybody. Bye!