Residency Day at the Statehouse 2011, Event Details!
Tuesday, June 21 2011 – 8:30 am to 3:00 pm
Great Hall, Massachuestts State House
Learn how to advocate for your patients & meet with your legislators
We will be advocating for:
An Act Establishing a Primary Seatbelt Law (AKA “Natalie’s Bill”) – HB 2401/ SB 1211 http://www.childrenshospital.org/about/Site1394/mainpageS1394P27sublevel106Flevel157.html
Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program – (MCPAP) – S.9894, H.1416 http://www.childrensmentalhealthcampaign.org/index.cfm?pageId=1323
Act Fresh: Comprehensive Land Use Reform and Partnership Act – CLURPA – SB1019
Featured speakers will include:
Ruth Balsar – State Representative
John Auerbach – Commisioner, Massachusetts DPH
John H. Straus, MD – Vice President, Medical Affairs for Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership
Anna Rosenquist, MD – Pediatrician, Advocate
BREAKFAST AND LUNCH SERVED – EVENT FREE FOR ALL PARTICIPANTS
We hope to see you there!!!
RSVP by May 25th to Jeff Winer (jcwiner@partners.org)
RDASH Schedule of Events
Pediatric Residents and Fellows Day at the State House
April 15, 2010 ∙ The Great Hall
Schedule of Events
8:30 Registration & Breakfast
9:00 Welcome & Introductions
9:15 Erin Tracy MD, MPH – Obstetrician, Massachusetts General Hospital
Focus on the Issues:
S847& HB2080 An Act Relative to a Board of Registration in Midwifery
Keynote Speakers
9:30 Vivek Murthy MD, MPH – Internist, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
President & Cofounder of Doctor’s for America
10:00 Gregory Hagan MD – Pediatrician, Cambridge Health Alliance
Vice President MCAAP
10:30 Short break & Snack
10:45 Greg Parkinson, MD- Pediatrician, Falmouth Pediatric Associates
Chair of MCAAP Committee on Injury Prevention and Poison Control
Focus on the Issues: S366 & H3224/3297: An Act to Regulate the Use of Off Highway & Recreation Vehicles
11:00 Sean Palfrey MD- Professor of General Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center
Focus on the Issues:
S470/859 & H3453: An Act Establishing the Massachusetts Childhood Vaccines Program and the Massachusetts Immunization Registry
11:15 Alex Calcagno
Workshop: “How to be an Effective Lobbyist”
12:15 Lunch
Informal Q&A with Ed Brennan, Esq. – Legal Counsel & Lobbyist, MCAAP
1:00-3:00 Meetings with individual legislators*
3:00 Feedback & Wrap-up
* We are also hoping to have a few legislators stop so the schedule may change slightly!
RDASH Press Release
Young Pediatricians Advocate for Childhood Vaccine Funding
Boston, MA – On April 15, 2010, over sixty pediatricians in training will be gathered at the Massachusetts State House to advocate for children’s healthcare at the fifth annual Pediatric Residents and Fellows Day at the State House (RFDASH). On the top of their agenda will be a bill guaranteeing funding for all recommended childhood vaccines and creating a vaccine registry to track vaccine status of all children in the Commonwealth (S. 2195).
For a century, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health provided vaccines to all healthcare providers in the states, so that all children had access to immunizations regardless of health insurance status. However, Massachusetts is no longer a “universal childhood distribution state”, meaning the state is no longer able to fully provide such funding. The bill up for debate would create a vaccine purchase trust funded by insurance providers to cover vaccine costs not covered by the state. This trust would then allow for vaccine purchase through the federal purchase system, which is 40% less costly than private purchasing. In addition, Massachusetts is currently one of only two states in the U.S. that does not have a vaccine registry, preventing children’s immunization status from being easily tracked. This bill would also establish such a registry, thereby helping to improve vaccination rates in the Commonwealth.
“It is impossible not to feel the immense impact vaccines have had on children’s health,” says MGH pediatrics resident Jessica Rosenthal. “Our instructors often tell us about the number of seriously ill children with bacterial meningitis that they took care of as residents, describing that many of those children developed devastating neurologic sequelae. I have not seen a single child with bacterial meningitis this year, and Haemophilus influenza B vaccine has clearly had a major role in decreasing the frequency of this largely preventable illness.” Kerrin DePeter, a second year pediatrics resident at MGH adds, “When we have such effective means at our disposal for preventing serious illnesses, it seems irrational and unfair not to do everything possible to facilitate widespread distribution of these resources. We should not be taking steps backwards in 2010 in the initiative to vaccinate children, and this bill would catch Massachusetts up again.”
The fifth annual Residents Day at the State House is sponsored by the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics (MCAAP). Pediatricians from all over the state will be in attendance. Featured speakers will be Dr. Greg Hagan, Vice President of MCAAP, and Dr. Vivek Murthy, co-founder of Doctors for America. Other issues at the focus of RDASH efforts are support for a bill limiting ATV use in children and opposition to a bill that would relax limits on obstetrical care delivered by non-physician providers. More information can be found at http://mghfcresidents.wordpress.com.
Residency Day at the State House Event Details!
Pediatric Residents & Fellows
Day at the State House
Thursday April 15, 2010
8:30 am to 3:00 pm
Great Hall – Massachusetts State House
Learn how to advocate for your patients
Meet with your legislators
Featured speakers will include:
Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA
Cofounder
Doctors for America
Greg Hagan, MD, FAAP
Vice President
Mass Chapter of the AAP
RSVP by March 15th to Jeff Winer
jcwiner@partners.org
For more information, visit our blog at http://mghfcresidents.wordpress.com/
Please include in your reply:
Name, Institution, Home address (to set up meetings with your senator/representative), T-shirt size
Participation: morning only or morning and afternoon
BREAKFAST AND LUNCH SERVED – EVENT FREE FOR ALL PARTICIPANTS
We hope to see you there!!!
Resident Advocacy Group, Massachusetts General Hospital for Children
For Immediate Release Contact: Samantha Dallaire
January 28, 2010 617-722-1500
Murray: Senate Passes Improved Safety Regulations
for Use of All-Terrain Vehicles
(BOSTON) – Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) announced today that the Senate has passed legislation improving safety regulations for operators of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) in Massachusetts. The bill requires ATVs, off-road motorcycles and snowmobiles to be registered and all operators to wear helmets. It also establishes a minimum age of use for ATVs.
“We have to consider the safety of people, especially children, who use these vehicles,” Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) said. “This bill will hold negligent users or owners accountable and help reduce the bad practices that harm individuals and children.”
Since the tragic ATV-related death of their eight year old son Sean in 2006, Mark and Katie Kearney of Plymouth have tirelessly advocated for increased ATV regulations and have worked with Senate President Murray’s office to put together this safety legislation.
“These are needless accidents, and I am so pleased that the Senate understood this and passed regulations that will hopefully prevent this kind of tragedy from ever happening again,” said Katie Kearney. “The passage of this bill shows that if you see a problem, you can go to your legislator and do something. Senate President Murray has been a caring advocate for this legislation and has been by our side throughout the process.”
According to the National Trauma Data Bank, more than 70 percent of pediatric ATV injuries and deaths involved children under the age of 14. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission found a 33 percent increase in all ATV-related injuries since 2001. In 2006 alone, at least 111 children under 16 were killed in ATV accidents.
“This legislation passed by the Senate would undoubtedly save the lives of many children and stem the tide of the preventable and costly pediatric brain injuries that are treated in the trauma centers of this Commonwealth,” said Dr. Peter T. Masiakos, a trauma surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital.
The bill prohibits anyone under 14 from operating an ATV, unless it is for a sanctioned race supervised by adults over 18. It also establishes penalties and fines for reckless and negligent use, leaving the scene of an accident, and unauthorized use and false registration.
In order to cross a public way, public safety provisions in the bill require that crossings are marked and approved as part of an authorized recreation vehicle trail system. The bill also prohibits ATV use that does millions of dollars of damage every year to public and private property, wildlife and crops.
In 2007, the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation created an Off-Highway Vehicle Working Group to identify strategies and solutions to address the growing concerns regarding the illegal and unsafe use of snowmobiles and recreation vehicles. Much of this bill, which also creates a new state off-highway vehicle advisory committee to address ongoing concerns, stems from their work.
Further provisions of the bill include:
- Prohibits possession of a loaded firearm, rifle or shotgun while riding on a recreation or snow vehicle;
- Requires that a person between 14 and 16 years of age may only operate an ATV with an engine capacity up to 90 cubic centimeters, and such use must be directly supervised by someone over 18;
- Provides that operators of recreation vehicles born after January 1, 1991 must complete a vehicle safety and responsibility course;
- Mandates that recreation and snow vehicle owners who knowingly allow persons to use their vehicles are liable with the operator for any damage or injuries;
- Establishes an Off-Highway Vehicle Program Fund that collects registration fees and revenues from fines and forfeitures to pay for law enforcement activities, land acquisition, trail maintenance and development, and the development of safety and training programs.
This bill now goes to the House of Representatives.
###
Murray was elected in March 2007 as the first female President of the Senate in Massachusetts history. From January 2003 through March 2007, she chaired the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. She is currently serving her 9th term in the Massachusetts Senate, representing the people of Bourne, Falmouth, Kingston, Pembroke, Plymouth, Plympton, Sandwich and precincts 10, 11, and 12 in the Town of Barnstable. For more information, visit www.ThereseMurray.com.
REMINDER: Please remember to vote for the MA Senate Election this Tuesday 1/19/10
AAP advocacy website:
http://www.mcaap.org/legislative-advocacy/
http://www.aap.org/advocacy.html
- Health reform specifically: http://www.aap.org/advocacy/washing/mainpage.htm
We have a date!
We’re very excited to announce that this year Residents Day at the State House will take place on Thursday, April 15th 2010. We’re currently working on contacting speakers and getting the word out. Stay tuned for more information in the upcoming months.
November 12, 2009 at 12:05 am mghfcresidents Leave a comment
Children’s Health Advocates Unite
Residents and fellows of MassGeneral Hospital for Children devote most of their time to treating sick children in a hospital setting, but this June they devoted a day to preventing and curing illness outside of the hospital wards.
This year’s fourth-annual Pediatric Residents and Fellows Day at the State House (RFDASH) brought out about 80 residents, fellows and faculty from various hospitals to advocate for legislation that affects children’s health.
Continue Reading August 26, 2009 at 6:03 pm mghfcresidents Leave a comment
Updated schedule
8:30 Registration and breakfast
9:00 Welcome and introductions
9:15 Lauren Smith MD, MPH – Medical Director of the Mass Dept of Public Health
“Public Health and Health Disparities: The Social Becomes Biologic”
9:45 Peter Masiakos MS, MD – Pediatric Surgeon, Mass General Hospital
“The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few: How Meaningful Legislation Impacts Children’s Health”
Focus on the Issues: S366: An Act to Regulate the Use of Off Highway and Recreation Vehicles
10:15 The Kearney Family: A family’s perspective on the ATV bill
10:30 Short break and snack
10:45 David DeMaso MD- Chairman of Psychiatry, Children’s Hosp of Boston
Focus on the Issues: S757 & H3586: An Act for Coordination of Children’s Mental Health Care Services
11:00 Sean Palfrey MD- Prof of General Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center
With a visit from Alice Wolf- State Representative 25th Middlesex District
Focus on the Issues: S859 & H3453: An Act Establishing the Massachusetts Childhood Vaccines Program and the Massachusetts Immunization Registry
11:45 Visit from Senate President Therese Murray
12:00 Sean Palfrey MD & Ed Brennan, Esq. – Legal Counsel & Lobbyist, MCAAP – Workshop: “How to be an Effective Lobbyist” & Question & Answer Session
12:30 Lunch
1:00 Meetings with individual legislators
2:00 – Feedback and Wrap-up
Schedule of Events
8:30 Registration and breakfast
9:00 Welcome and introductions
9:15 Lauren Smith – Director of the Mass Dept of Public Health
9:45 Peter Masiakos- Professor of Pediatric Surgery, Mass Gen Hospital
10:00 The Kearney Family: Discussing Impact of the ATV Bill
10:15 Short break and snack
10:45 David DeMaso MD- Chair of Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital Boston, Mental Health Bill
11:00 Alex Calcagno – Lobbyist for the Mass Med Society, How to be an Effective Lobbyist
12:00 Sean Palfrey-Prof of Pediatrics, Boston Medical Center & Ed Brennan- Lobbyist for the MCAAP, Immunization Bill
12:20 Questions & Answers
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Meetings with individual legislators
