Get involved: 10 minutes to learn optometry’s advocacy
As optometry’s advocates prepare to take the profession’s priority issues virtually to Capitol Hill later this month, the AOA offers an advocacy primer course to equip doctors, staff and students for success.
“Even in its virtual form, AOA on Capitol Hill keeps growing in attendance with engaged doctors, staff and students who come together from across the nation to ensure our essential advocacy program translates into effective advocacy on Capitol Hill,” notes William T. Reynolds, O.D., AOA president. “With so much riding on our priority issues, we encourage those with a mind toward advocacy to log in and get involved.”
Optometry’s advocates stand for doctors’ rights to practice full-scope optometry, as well as patients’ ability to access that care—it’s a role that AOA and its volunteers approach diligently, and one in which everyone in the profession can get involved. But knowing where to begin can be challenging.
It’s never too late or too soon to get involved with advocacy. Opportunities, such as the Advocacy 101 session and Virtual AOA on Capitol Hill, provide members unparalleled access to the federal issues facing optometry today, the foundational knowledge and connections necessary to get involved.
Interested in learning more about getting involved in optometry’s advocacy? Keep reading for more information in AOA Focus.
Paraoptometric Speaker Series highlights advocacy in May
In addition to the Advocacy 101 session, optometric practice staff also have access to May’s installment of the Paraoptometric Speaker Series on advocacy. Available on the first Tuesday of every month, the Paraoptometric Speaker Series went live on Tuesday, May 4, with a unique session geared toward providing staff actionable information for getting involved and why their involvement is critical to optometry’s advocacy as a whole.
The recorded Zoom session is now available for paraoptometrics to review in EyeLearn: Professional Development Hub at their leisure, whether they intend to participate in Virtual AOA on Capitol Hill or their own state-level advocacy events.
Interested in learning more about paraoptometric advocacy? Read how paraoptometrics are taking the next step from patient advocate to the profession’s advocate at Virtual AOA on Capitol Hill this year.
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