Monday, August 19, 2013

congressional member organizations (CMOs) for stroke

This came from an email from the NSA but they didn't say what to tell your congressperson(A National Stroke Plan would be great).  Stroke medical stuff is totally broken. Ask the NINDS to convene a session for survivors(excluding the ASA and NSA as unproductive) and come up with a strategy to address reducing stroke disabilities.  Similar to National Alzheimer’s Plan Released

The suggested content of your communication, boring, boring, boring.
Join stroke-related CMOs
Dear [Representative/Senator],
Congress is considering a range of policies critical to stroke survivors. These include bills to ensure access to post-stroke therapy services under Medicare; improve the federal partnership with survivors on return-to-work challenges; and continue our nation's commitment to stroke-related medical research activities. To ensure that you and your staff are well-informed on these and other stroke-related issues, I urge you to join congressional member organizations (CMOs) designed to provide the latest updates on these policy debates, specifically the:

House Congressional Neuroscience Caucus, co-chaired by Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) [contact at 225-4811] and Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rodgers (R-WA) [contact at 225-2006];

House/Senate Congressional Heart and Stroke Coalition, chaired by Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) [contact at 225-3601], Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) [contact at 225-3765], Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) [contact at 224-6142], and Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) [contact at 224-2152]; or

House Congressional Brain Injury Task Force, co-chaired by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) [contact at 225-5751] and Rep. Tom Rooney (R-FL) [contact at 225-5792].

These CMOs seek to highlight the enormous human and financial impacts of stroke across our nation. From a budget perspective, the estimated direct and indirect cost of stroke was $73.7 billion in 2010. But clearly the human cost is more important. Someone in the U.S. has a stroke roughly every 40 seconds. About 795,000 people will have a stroke this year. It's the fourth leading cause of death and a leading cause of long-term disability.

Joining these bipartisan groups offers an opportunity for you to help improve the federal partnership with stroke survivors, caregivers and their families and offer a ray of hope to me and other constituents like me who have been impacted by stroke. To join one of these CMOs, simply call one of the co-chairs noted above and ask for the staff person managing the group. I appreciate your consideration and hope I can count on you to prioritize stroke-related issues.
Thank you,
[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]

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