This year, we have centered our theme on advocacy, which fuels innovation, workforce growth, and recognition.
I write this from Washington, D.C., ahead of an advocacy day, often called Hill Days, where clinicians and allies step away from their daily work to help shape the policies that define our communities and the future of healthcare delivery. It is a rush of movement between offices, memorizing talking points, and interpreting legislation in real time.
In these spaces, I am reminded that advocacy is, at its heart, the work of translation. It is the work of turning lived experience into policy, and policy into something meaningful for the people and places we serve. I have learned from physicians, fellow nurses, and government affairs leaders the importance of storytelling and making complex decisions tangible at the community level.
