Scanned from Parkinson's Action Network
Action Advisory, May 9, 1997
Cosponsor Count, Udall Momentum Building
One month after the Morris K. Udall Parkinson's Research and Education Act's
April 9th introduction, the bill (S. 535 and H.R. 1260) has 47 Senators and
157 Representatives as cosponsors.
This support is attributable to the hard work of grassroots activists all
across the country. Good work! to every one of you who has written, called
or visited your representatives. Special thanks go to those who traveled to
Washington, DC this past month and took the message directly to Congress.
This work blended beautifully with the press conference announcing the Udall
bill's introduction and, in particular, Muhammad Ali's presence before
Congress which helped raise awareness of Parkinson's.
This is a great start, but we need a big push now to keep the momentum going
and to get the bill passed and funded. As an active member of the
Parkinson's community you can help ensure these important goals are reached
as soon as possible.
Udall Dinner Success Increases Advocacy Options
PAN's Fourth Annual Morris K. Udall Awards Dinner appears to have been a
great success, and of course we are tremendously grateful to all those who
contributed and were able to attend. Your support means so much! (Please
look for more coverage of the dinner in the upcoming issue of the Action
Reporter.)
These additional resources give us some enhanced advocacy options, and we
intend to make the most of them. For starters, Michael Claeys, our
Community Outreach Coordinator and former Congressional staffer, will be
spending more time in Washington, DC. This additional time will allow for
greater direct contact with Legislators and their staff, increased
coordination ofadvocacy efforts with other Parkinson's organizations as well
as supporting and assisting the efforts of grassroots activists who travel
to Capitol Hill.
To help make this work more effective, we are adding a new computer with
modem to our Washington office. This addition will allow for greater
communication and management of information between our offices, as well as
expand our internet and email access to Washington.
Lastly, but certainly not of least importance, we are adding clerical staff
in our Santa Rosa office. We expect this to make us even more responsive to
community requests for information and materials, as well as provide some
relief to our burdened staff.
As always our goal is to make the most effective use of the resources you,
our supporters make available.
1997 Public Policy Forum Moves From June to July
The Fourth Annual Washington, DC Public Policy Forum has been rescheduled
from June 9 - 11 to July 13 - 16.
The change was made for two important reasons. First, the revised
scheduling is closer to the time frame expected to be key to movement of the
bill. Second, it provides more time to recruit new community participants
from across the country, so that the event will have the greatest impact
possible.
Please help us recruit Parkinson's advocates-tobe to attend, particularly
from areas where we need more activity seeking Congressional support for the
Udall bill.
We understand some people are being inconvenienced by this change - we are
sorry! Please let us know if you are one of those, so we can try to help if
possible. We are committed to making this the best Forum yet.
If you or anyone you know has already made their travel arrangements based
on the June date, please contact PAN at 800-850-4726 and we will work with
you to find the best possible resolution.
Available advocacy materials
Do you have current materials? Following are some of the resources that you
may use for your advocacy efforts. Contact PAN=92s Community Outreach
Coordinator, Michael Claeys, at 800-850-4726 for copies.
-- Copies of Udall bill and bill fact sheets
-- Lists of newsly elected and re-elected Member of the 105th Congress
-- Current Members of hte House and Senate Leadership
-- Members of key Congressional Committees and their Committee Chairs and
Ranking Members
-- Other updated PAN materials, including NIH funding comparisons, Funding=
=20
Disparity Charts, Routes to a Parkinson=92s Cure, Return on Investment=
in=20
Parkinson=92s Research, Udall bill summaries and fetal tissue research=
fact
sheet.=20
Margaret Tuchman (55yrs, Dx 1980)- NJ-08540
[log in to unmask]
