The Action Board activities in the past several months have focused, from my perspective, on two main areas: 1) advocacy, and 2) archiving. 

A recent meeting in Washington included visits by Action Board members to elected representatives on Capitol Hill on behalf of APHA.  Included in the discussions was enhanced funding for the SCHIP program (State Children's Health Insurance Program) which is critical to many projects APHA and the MC Section hold dear.  Also likely discussed were issues related to universal health care.

The important topics discussed the weekend of the Action Board meeting and visits to the capital will be delivered to you in a subsequent e-mail or in the next newsletter.  APHA had provided very helpful Web links to allow for easier communication with Washington using www.capwiz.com.

Policy archiving was initiated and promoted by the Action Board.  I believe, while the immediacy of doing this is less critical than some of the above activities, archiving is an important and potentially useful activity for all APHA members.  This year, the topics chosen to focus on, namely, rural health, children's health, public health work force issues, and health care policy, have relevance to everyone on some level.  Streamlining the policies in the review process could allow for a more efficient use of those very policies.  I am not sure what the outcome was, but I would greatly appreciate some feedback, if any exists, from the MC Section regarding use or non-use of this process.  The process of policy review may be slightly tedious initially, but it rapidly becomes quite rewarding as a result of the significant knowledge gained about our policies and the process involved in making policies.

Please look for a more detailed, nuanced report for the next newsletter.