Last week, Gillette Children’s once more celebrated Speak Now for Kids Family Advocacy Week!

Family Advocacy Week is a campaign designed around elevating public awareness about child health practices, the work of children’s hospitals and policy issues impacting America's children. 

Each year, Speak Now for Kids Family Advocacy Week provides a public platform for citizen advocates to learn, get involved and influence the outcomes of current child health policies throughout the year. 

Patients from Gillette Children’s and their families have been participating in in the event for years, but COVID-19 did slightly alter the format for the week. Traditionally, one Gillette family would’ve traveled to Washington, D.C. to meet with their locally elected officials in person, but for the past two years, these meetings took place virtually.

One silver lining of this change was that virtual meetings allowed more Gillette families to have the opportunity to participate in the process and meet with the Minnesota Congressional Delegation.

The meetings with Members of Congress last week involved three patients and their families, where each of them got the time to share their own experiences and advocate for families like their own, everywhere. 

At Gillette, many of our parents and families get to know each other over time and last week gave our patient advocate families the chance to come together as a virtual Gillette community and advocate for children’s health.

It was educational, fun and just one more example of how Gillette's Advocacy team supports Gillette families both in and outside our hospital walls!