Advocacy campaign on Childhood and Adolescent obesity in Kentucky.
Abstract.
The general perception from other professionaldisciplines have always maintained to ignore the political class as long as they maintain their duties without interference. The members usually feel that the political class does not impact them yet they are actually affected directly affected by the laws made by the legislature. Nurses are not of exception in this case hence there is great need to move and influence the political class to get right the laws governing various nursing intervention. This article provides for the essentials and steps nurse lobbyist should take to advocate for healthy adolescents and children in Kentucky
Venturing into advocacy campaigns and other legislative processes in the nursing field and any other profession must be guided by the code of ethics and professionalism. According to Milstead 2016, nurses have always ignored political participation yet it is essential for them to engage the lawmakers in getting down to fight for their patients and profession at large. Chapter three of the article called upon nurses to know the rules of the game—lawmaking, to facilitate placing of various advocacy campaigns and acting as lobbyists for their agenda to succeed.
The involvement must commence by understanding the process unto which need or an idea can turn to become law. The nurses must get to know the process right from the moment legislators are made aware of an issue requiring legislative solution which can be done by any interested parties to the moment a bill drafted and introduced to the House (Milstead, 2016). The bill is then assigned to a standing committee from which the floor takes action on it via discussion. Conference committee then takes charge to bring the two houses together in the resolution before the presidential assent.
The article also calls upon nurses to go beyond the knowledge of lawmaking process and get to know the various things it takes to make the legislation and advocacy processes a success. It begins by understanding the players in the game ranging from members of the Congress, lobbyist, and legislative aides who work tirelessly to make their way. The nurse lobbyist may then engage the right team that will be able to work in identifying strengths and weaknesses and adjusts to make their moves successful.
While playing the political game, the teams must strategize for success in defending their issues. In fact, for advocacy in the nursing profession, the nurse lobbyist must be able to make the legislators understand the great need of their problems at hand as they are experts in the area (Milstead, 2016). They must also apply various skills like investing heavily financially, appropriate timing, consideration of political climate and being united to act as a presser behind the bill.
The nurse lobbyist uses the must have coaching and mentoring team that will be able to pinpoint the critical issues that can impact the outcome of the bill before legislators. With this review of health policy and politics, the advocacy on the policy towards childhood obesity can be considered.
My advocacy would be directed in making legislation to be adhered to and adjusted as well was laid on the support policy and environmental changes that will impact healthy eating and lifestyle in the long run. This can only be achieved via a change in laws since there is need to do more control in physical activity as well as healthy dieting. Concerning influence from existing laws and legislation that will impact my advocacy, Kentucky has a Department of Public Health and the Council of State Governments ‘SCORE(Southern Collaborative On Obesity Reduction Efforts) initiative that will allow the advocacy to be channeled and supported through it. With support, the advocacy can turn fruitful from the laid down structures since the initiative mounts its efforts to reduce obesity.
To impact the change of legislation in Kentucky on childhood obesity, there will be a great need to choose stakeholders who will act as an advisory team that will take the legislators through and selects obesity prevention policies that will work for Kentucky.
In order to see my lobby bare fruits, I will use the three legs method of lobbying. It entails three aspects of channeling the interests.
Professional leg.
It entails involving experts directly to execute the efforts on one’s behalf. These include team of lawyers as well as those who are experience in political and strategic analysis who will work to ensure the interest gets a representation.
Political approach.
It requires show of great respect and relationship with legislatures and their staffs. The relationship created must be credible to allow an opportunity through which an issues can be introduced and supported by the legislators themselves.
Grass root lobbying.
It entails the lobbying at the lower level. People in the community are rallied to ensure the championship goes through. The lobbyist can also visit people in the community, make fliers, write letters, posters, phone calls and emails to pass the pressing information.
The advocated policy may be trapped by various obstacles in the legislative process leading to its implementation failure. The barriers may include constitutional requirements. The advocacy may be restricted regarding its activities by the highest laws, e.g., the state constitution. Besides, the support can be challenged in court and thrown out not to be implemented (obstacles to law reform, 2014). This can also turn into other forms especially when the lawmakers exceeding their constitutional powers in legislating on the advocated area.
Another obstacle lies in difficulty in changing the constitution. This comes from the fact that the advocacy may be right but affect other laws within the same constitution hence making it not viable. With this in place, the laws and its distributions as well as law-making power being tough to alter.
Furthermore, the parliamentary structure also forms another hindrance to advocacy development and implantation. The use of the advocacy requires the support of the lawmakers and failure to get such support act as a stumping blocking in working on the health of children and adolescent in Kentucky (obstacles to law reform, 2014). This can also take another form especially when the advocacy does not get in line with the core values of the party in governance or even being unpopular with the public.
My advocacy on healthy living by the children and adolescent may be obstructed by confusion and delay based on the fact that too many voices come out to bring the essential matter on point and in the long haul, trouble on the need of reforms erupts. The concerns can originate from parliamentarians, senior politicians, the media, and commentators. These groups will give mixed reactions and opinions.
The advocacy development is thorough and requires collaboration with various sectors and stakeholders to make it successful. At the same time, it is essential to make sense out of the advocacy and do proper planning to ensure the advocacy plan goes through to be implemented for the desired purposes. This will create the change and the deficit catered for in the end.
Summary.
Nurses need to know their expectations and roles in law making despite the fact that they are not legislatures. They can be lobbyist to spearhead their agenda while also using various methods to make the same agenda go through. They can use the three legged steps to ensure their health bills goes through and become the law. This entailsuse of experts such as lawyers, do there grass root lobbying to create a strong voice that can give pressure for passage of laws as well as also channeling the concern through the political class. These methods will give way for the bill to be enacted and in the long haul, better health will be achieved amongst the young people.
References:
Hann, A. (Ed.). (2016). Health policy and politics. Routledge.
Milstead, J. A. (2016). Health policy and politics: A nurse’s guide (5th ed.). Burlington, MA:
Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Obstacles to law reform. (2014). Obstlawgovpol.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017, from
http://lawgovpol.com/obstacles-to-law-reform/
