One room, two desks. One representative, three students. One vote, two life-altering options.
The representative, Angela Martinez, hurriedly rushed into the meeting in her office at the Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka, coming from another meeting and voting session.
The three SM East students — sophomores Leighton Fulghum, Zella Handzel and Libby Morris — thought to carefully approach the selected bills regarding heart health in a way that would convince Martinez to vote on their side.
“It's crazy how many bills they're signing all the time,” Fulghum said. “They're voting on them all [at] the [same] time, and that made me realize that a vote yes or no can impact so many people's lives.”
Fulghum, Handzel and Morris met with Martinez, as well as Kansas Senator Ethan Corson, on March 4 to advocate for legislation the American Heart Association has deemed important for this year’s Lobby Day in Kansas.
Morris is a pageant queen and has worked with the AHA for years as her main pageantry campaign. She and Fulghum started the SME Heart Club to continually work with the AHA to educate students on the importance of heart health.
Through the club, they offered the opportunity for members to attend the AHA’s Heart Powered organization lobby day at the state capitol. Handzel is a close friend and fellow club founder of SM East’s Future is Female Club, and was the only other student able to be excused from school to attend lobby day with Fulghum and Morris.
“It was good to get involved in our government, because our voices are so powerful,” Morris said. “Getting a chance to [lobby] under the guidance of the American Heart Association, [makes me] feel like I am able to advocate for more topics in the future that I'm passionate about.”
This was their first time lobbying for government action and they are definitely planning on returning next year. To help them prepare, they met with AHA over a Zoom call the week prior and over a breakfast the morning of.
The advocates were divided into 14 teams, based on the groups that they signed up with. Everyone gathered across the street from the Capitol building at the Kansas Health Institute, where they were given final instructions, group leaders and notecards detailing the topics they’d explain to the government officials in depth.
Senior Community Impact Director of the AHA, Erin Gabert, mentored Fulghum, Handzel and Morris throughout the day. Gabert walked them through mock conversations before their actual meetings with representatives, which she also sat in on as the group’s adult leader.
“It wasn't a situation where I was talking to lawmakers and they were just kind of there,” Gabert said. “They really took the lead, and they were very determined for the lawmakers to understand the importance of what we were lobbying for and why they are so passionate about the work of the American Heart Association.”
Gabert said this was one of her favorite lobby days because she got to work with such empowered teenage girls.
Fulghum, Handzel and Morris researched at home prior to their meetings, focused on knowing the details of the bills they’d be talking about at their meetings. The AHA designated three topics, or bills, that lobbyists would be discussing: funding for AEDs for schools that can’t afford them, Bill 379 which would require 911 call operators to know CPR and Bill 363, a Medicaid expansion that’ll actually decrease the number of people eligible.
“In rural communities, there's only one person responding to 911 calls, and it's going to take the ambulance 30 minutes to get there, so if they don't know CPR, there's no chance for the person to [survive],” Fulghum said. “If [they] made it required for everyone who's answering these calls to know CPR, it could save so many lives.”
This bill for Telecomunicator CPR was passed by the Senate and is now moving on to the Kansas House of Representatives. When meeting with the government officials, Fulghum, Handzel and Morris learned that some of the officials didn’t even know what TCPR was. With their preparation and notecards handy, they were able to explain the details of a bill to a senator who had originally voted no, as he didn’t know what TCPR was.
“It felt so amazing to feel we had an impact on [Senator Corson’s] vote because he originally had said no,” Handzel said. “He didn't know that he was hearing one side of the story, so it felt very powerful that I could convince a senator's mind because I shared a personal story.”
Handzel’s father passed away due to cardiac arrest two years ago, making this subject especially touching to her. Handzel is currently fundraising for her Teen of Impact campaign through the AHA to further raise awareness and support for heart health.
While their day was long and their meeting with Representative Rui Xu was canceled due to lack of time, Fulghum, Handzel and Morris all learned a lot about the impact advocating can make.
“I'm very grateful that I have the opportunity to do things like this, and it means so much to me to be able to, even if I can, make a difference in just one person's life,” Fulghum said.
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