Brain Tumor Advocacy Packet — An Agenda for Improving Brain Tumor Treatments

April 15, 2009

NABTC members and friends are going to observe Brain Tumor Awareness Month of May 2009 by promoting an aggressive and ambitious agenda for brain tumor research and care.

Advocates are encouraged to contact their elected officials and to ask them to help the brain tumor community advance several important initiatives. The internet and email have transformed your ability to speak to your Senators and Representatives, which means that brain tumor advocates can be as effective at home as they can be in Washington, D.C.

Senators and Representatives generally spend weekends and Congressional recess periods in their home districts and states, which means that there is a ready option of meeting with your elected officials when they are at home. You can also contact your elected officials by phone or email.

The websites of the House of Representatives (www.house.gov) and the Senate (www.senate.gov) allow you to identify your Senators and Representatives and the best means of contacting them.

The NABTC agenda is explained in the advocacy packet that is available below. Brain tumor advocates are asking their Senators and Representatives to do four things: 1) support an increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health in FY 2010 of 10 percent; 2) write a letter to National Cancer Institute Director John Niederhuber (similar to the sample letter in the advocacy packet) asking him to restore funding for the Adult Brain Tumor Consortium; 3) support the Brain Tumor Care and Cures Act of 2009, including by serving as the lead House or Senate sponsor of the bill or by cosponsoring it upon its introduction in House and Senate; and 4) cosponsor the Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act of 2009 (S. 700/1708).

If you plan to make visits to your elected officials in Washington, D.C., please join the NABTC on Sunday, May 3, at 7 pm at Club Quarters at 839 17th Street NW for an informal review of these positions.

The Brain Tumor Advocacy Packet is attached. brain-tumor-advocacy-packet2

Posted in Action Items, Advocacy Positions, Brain Tumor Action Week