April 17, 2023
On April 19, 2023, the NCAFP will bring 21 of its members to the General Assembly in Raleigh for face-to-face meetings with their representatives. Conversations like the ones coming on Wednesday are the beginning of relationships, and with the full slate of legislative concerns this year, relationships between NCAFP members and their representatives are key.
We expect to advocate for financial investment in cost-saving primary care and attracting family physicians to our state’s underserved rural areas, among other issues. But the people meeting together on White Coat Wednesday matter as much if not more than what they discuss. After all, our members have the on-the-ground view that North Carolina lawmakers need to see for creating informed health policy.
Let’s meet three of the attendees joining our staff in the General Assembly: Dr. Sheridan Finnie, Dr. Avanthi Jayaweera, and Campbell MS1 Mark Bushhouse. They’re coming for their first legislative visit, and they have high hopes for their experience.
This year’s White Coat Wednesday is their first time advocating directly to lawmakers, but they’ve each wanted to experience it. “I’ve been trying to attend for the last three years,” says Dr. Jayaweera, “but my residency schedule was a significant barrier. So I’m very, very excited that right before I graduate, I get to join.” As a medical student in Virginia, Dr. Jayaweera met with her state and federal representatives as part of her work for the American Medical Student Association. “I used to train medical students on talking to lawmakers and lending their perspectives as future physicians to guide public health conversations,” she says. Looking to stay on in North Carolina, she wants to know that process for herself by working with the NCAFP at the General Assembly.
Dr. Finnie comes from a public health background and so has valued policy advocacy both personally and professionally. “I believe that that one of the most beautiful and important roles of a physician is to serve as a physician-advocate,” she says. “So I’m thrilled to go the legislature and formally engage with that work for the first time. I feel very strongly that I want it to be a part of my career and my life moving forward.”
Bushhouse, he says, brings non-traditional medical experience that informs his political interest: he served in the Army, first in the 82nd Airborne and then as a Special Forces Medical Sergeant, until 2018. He and his children have visited the General Assembly before. “I found most of the representatives, regardless of party, to be really accommodating,” Bushhouse says. “They were excited to hear from us about what was going on in Cumberland County. I have exposure to aspects of medicine outside the regular med student, and so I think I have a perspective to bring. That’s something I want to be a part of.”
The members’ visit will introduce them to the lawmakers, which is the first step in building the relationships that will enable future advocacy. “Relative to other places,” says Bushhouse, “there’s an opportunity to affect change here and now. There’s an opportunity to build out Family Medicine.”
Dr. Jayaweera, Dr. Finnie, and Bushhouse are just three of 21 attendees going to the legislature. They will be joined by NCAFP Board members like Dr. Mark McNeil, Dr. Garett Franklin, Dr. Dmitrios Hondros, Dr. Frankie Simmons, and NCAFP Advocacy Chair Dr. Deanna Didiano, all of whom are family physicians with experience in policy circles. They’ll also attend with previous NCAFP Policy and Leadership Elective participants Dr. Corinna Myers and MS4 Sheryl Fuehrer. These physician members don’t include NCAFP staff members Greg Griggs and Shawn Parker, who regularly work with North Carolina lawmakers on development of health care policy legislation.
In short, these three first-time attendees will join a team well-versed and experienced in effective Family Medicine advocacy. They say that this wealth of experience helped them participate.
“I’m really excited to meet the other doctors taking time out of their schedules to do this work,” says Dr. Jayaweera. “With the pandemic and moving down North Carolina, I didn’t have much of a chance to interact with other physicians outside of my program who are just as interested in having a public discussion about public health. I’m more than ready to build in-person relationships with them, too.”
Dr. Finnie sees the meeting of fellow physicians for advocacy as an empowering step. “I’m looking forward to meeting the other physicians,” she says, “since the people interested in advocacy tend to have an infectious positivity and drive for making change. That can be inspiring, especially when there are so many things going on that get us feeling down.”
These members have the right idea: White Coat Wednesday exists to develop the relationships that make effective advocacy. Those are not only the relationships between members and their legislators, but also the relationships between members who can mentor and support one another. As Dr. Jayaweera puts it: “I hope these are the first in-person meetings of many.”
The North Carolina Academy of Family Physicians, Inc. (NCAFP) is a nonprofit professional association headquartered in Raleigh which represents over 4,300 family physicians, family medicine residents, and medical students across the state. It is the largest medical specialty association in North Carolina and is a constituent chapter of the American Academy of Family Physicians, based in Leadwood, KS.