Tuesday, September 1, 2015

We are...POA!

I didn’t grow up in Pennsylvania, and I’ve never been a big college football fan, so when I moved to Reading and started to hear “We are...Penn State,” it was new to me. As an outsider, it really strikes me as a great chant because it stresses that the strength of the university is its community of students, alumni, and supporters. 
During my time as a volunteer leader with the POA, I often hear members asking, “What is the POA doing about this issue?” I think it’s much more positive if we develop a culture within our optometric association where we say, “What are we doing about this issue?”
I realize that every member can’t possibly be up to date on all the issues facing our profession. In reality, even the POA’s Board members and staff can’t be completely knowledgeable about every issue. It is always okay – even encouraged – to ask questions about how we are addressing issues and meeting challenges. But I would also like every member to see themselves as a contributing and involved part of the POA (and the AOA), even if just in a small way, like a Penn State alum who only makes it to one game a year and sits at the top of the stadium. It still feels like they are invested. 
We currently have three legislative initiatives that we are addressing in the Pennsylvania legislature. The first is Senator Ward’s bill to address inequities in the policies of third party vision plans. Hopefully you have heard the details of this bill before. The second is a bill sponsored by Senator Gordner to remove outdated restrictions from our practice act. There is also a bill introduced by Senator Argall and supported by the PA Academy of Ophthalmology that seeks to restrict our profession by placing a definition of ophthalmic surgery in the medical practice act. If we are going to be victorious in advancing two positive pieces of legislation, and defend against an attempt to set us back, it is going to take contributions from every member. These contributions need to be in both time and donations. 
Firstly, we need every member to be involved in the grass roots effort to meet with legislators. We have a keyperson assigned to each Senator and House member. That doctor is expected to maintain a relationship with their assigned legislator and to meet with the legislator when there is a bill that would affect optometry in order to provide input. Ideally every other member of the POA would support their fellow member who is acting as a keyperson. When the legislator has a local fundraiser, we would like to have all the optometrists in the district attend, instead of just the keyperson. When the keyperson goes in to the legislator’s office to discuss a bill that is important to optometry, having a few other members go along increases the impact significantly. We do have paid lobbyists who work every day in Harrisburg to form relationships with legislators and try to influence them to vote favorably for optometry. However, the PA Academy of Ophthalmology, the insurance companies, and other groups that hold positions opposed to ours also have lobbyists. When a legislator hears from both lobbyists and constituents on an issue, it has a much greater impact. If you don’t know who your legislators are, you can easily look it up online. Google “Who is my PA legislator?” Follow the link to the State Senate and House of Representatives. If you don’t know who the POA keyperson is for your legislators, you can email Ilene@poaeyes.org and ask Ilene at the POA office.
Secondly, we need financial support. Hopefully everyone reading this editorial has heard of POPAC and realizes the importance of it. This money is used to make contributions to fundraisers for Pennsylvania legislators. Our lobbyists in Harrisburg attend many fundraisers on our behalf in Harrisburg, and it is our POPAC funds that allow them to do that. POPAC funds are also available (on a matching basis) for members to attend local fundraisers. We have made great strides in increasing our POPAC funds over the last two years. For that, I’d like to send a big thanks to Dr. Greg Caldwell and his POPAC Committee, along with all the members who have made contributions. If you have not made a contribution, please go the website or call the POA office to do that right now. A $500 yearly contribution qualifies for the POA’s incentive program, which returns the $500 in the form of eyeglass lenses and monetary credit toward POA continuing education programs. 
I realize this hasn’t been the inspirational half-time speech of a great college football coach, but hopefully you get the message and are inspired to think of yourself as part of our team of optometrists, working together to advance our profession.
We are...POA!









Rich Christoph, O.D.
POA President