Members of Partners in Health Engage from across New York State meet with U.S. Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-Utica). From top left: Rep. Anthony Brindisi, Elizabeth Hahn, Ava Knapp; (middle, from left): Diego Burga, Victoria Varlack and Thais Salas; (bottom, from left): Robert Dougherty, legislative assistant.
Fredona students Ava Knapp and Elizabeth Hahn have spent the past few weeks organizing Congressional meetings with Partners in Health Engage, a grassroots network of citizens spanning the entire nation, powered primarily by young adults committed to dismantling barriers to healthcare access.
The pair felt empowered to advocate for legislation that would strengthen the U.S. response to COVID-19. Research about current global events, combined with personal experiences, pushed Ms. Knapp, a junior Exercise Science major from East Amherst, N.Y., and Ms. Hahn, a senior Biology major from Rome, N.Y., to dive further into advocacy work.
As existing members of Partners in Health Engage, they worked with the network to join forces with Right to Health to organize a Pandemic Prevention Plan.
“We are fighting for domestic and global strengthening of health systems, health justice and medicine affordability at home and abroad,” Knapp explained. “We want to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to high-quality healthcare.”
Knapp and Hahn organized meetings with the offices of U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand. Now, they are furthering their reach by scheduling meetings with members of the House of Representatives, as well as writing to local newspapers concerning the issues they hope to address. Their most recent meeting was with Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D-Utica).
“We are asking Congress to allocate funds to support contact tracing and testing, assist in the pandemic responses of low-income countries, and ensure that medicines and vaccines subsidized by U.S. taxpayers are kept in the public domain,” Hahn explained. “It is crucial to have these meetings with Congress. We are their constituents, and they want to hear from us!”
Hahn and Knapp hope more people from the Fredonia community will join them in advocating for an effective U.S. COVID-19 response. Those who would like to become involved can send an email to pih-engage@fredonia.edu to learn how to meet with local representatives to advocate for policies that stop COVID-19 and prevent future outbreaks.
