MAYA SEQUEIRA

Lobbied Members of Congress and spoke with staff at the Departments of Health and Human Services about the shortage of nurses and nurse faculty and the need for well-trained and educated nurses to provide excellent health care.

Lobbied Members of Congress about the importance of research conducted at the National Institute of Nursing Research, the National Institutes of Health, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the need to fund these federal research agencies.

Lobbied Members of Congress and spoke with staff at the Department of Health and Human Services about the shortage of nurse faculty, students turned away from schools of nursing, and the importance of the Bachelors of Science in Nursing. Lobbied Members of Congress about the importance of including nurse faculty under the Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) program. Also lobbied Members of Congress regarding new nursing programs under the Higher Education Act reauthorization bill. Discussed the Nurse Education, Expansion, and Development Act (H.R. 772 and S. 446) and other federal nurse education legislation. Discussed revisions to the Title VII and VIII Public Health Service Act reauthorization bills.

Lobbied Members of Congress on FY 2009 Appropriations under the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies to preserve and increase funding for Title VII Health Professions and Title VIII Nursing Workforce Development programs under the Public Health Service Act, research at the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and other programs.

Spoke with the military nurse chiefs and lobbied members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees for the Troops to Nurse Teachers program that would offer incentives to registered nurses who have seperated from the military to become nurse educators.