Legislative Assistance Center

Using the Center

The Legislative Assistance Center is designed to assist you in writing or speaking to your legislators about Trauma Center and / or Trauma System support/funding issues. It includes the following sections:

Template letter: This letter is designed to be edited to suit your specific needs. It should be read carefully to assure that it is appropriate to your situation. Special care should be taken to ensure that the names of the legislators and the name and number of the bill you are supporting are current and correct. In addition, the ideal letter is short and succinct. Therefore the template letter should be edited to include only the sections that are most important for your cause.

Talking points: These are a list of facts that can be used when you speak to your legislators. They include facts about trauma as a disease as well as why Trauma Centers are so important.

There are additional web sites that can assist you in finding the names of your federal and state legislators and information on some current legislation.

Go to the American College of Surgeons Legislative Action Center at http://capwiz.com/facs/home/ to find information on current federal and state trauma legislation. You can find your federal and state legislators on this site.

Go to the American Hospital Association State, Regional and Metropolitan Site at http://www.hospitalconnect.com/aha/resource_center/links.jsp#2 and click on State Links to find your state organization. Most of the state sites give information on legislation pertinent to hospitals and allow you to find your state representatives for your region.