Local Lobby Week, Senate resolution call attention to psoriasis during Psoriasis Awareness Month
Posted July 26, 2005
Updated July 29, 2005
UPDATE: The Psoriasis Awareness Month resolution was passed by the U.S. Senate on July 28, 2005. More details to come.
As the National Psoriasis Foundation launches its first-ever Local Lobby Week, Aug. 15-19, two lawmakers have introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate recognizing August 2005 as Psoriasis Awareness Month. The resolution shines a spotlight on psoriasis as Psoriasis Foundation volunteers across the country prepare to visit their members of Congress during Local Lobby Week, educating them about psoriasis and how it affects their daily lives.
The resolution, introduced by Sens. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., is a significant milestone for the Psoriasis Foundation, its volunteers and Members, and builds on the momentum of recent grassroots advocacy efforts to raise awareness about psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and to support increased research funding.
The Foundation is now urging the psoriasis community to build on these successes by signing up to participate in Local Lobby Week. Volunteers from around the country are planning to meet with their members of Congress, who typically return to their home districts and states when Congress goes on recess in August. The volunteers will provide information on psoriasis, dispel the most common myths about the disease, and ask their senators to co-sponsor the Smith-Lautenberg Psoriasis Awareness Month resolution.
"The proposed resolution is a direct result of our efforts on Capitol Hill Day," said Sheila Rittenberg, director of advocacy for the Psoriasis Foundation. "Now, by passing this resolution, Congress will add its voice in support of the psoriasis community. Local Lobby Week is another great opportunity for people to work on psoriasis awareness at a grassroots level and make a difference."
Congressional recognition of August as Psoriasis Awareness Month was among three goals during Capitol Hill Day in April, when Psoriasis Foundation staff and volunteers visited congressional offices in Washington, D.C., to talk about psoriasis and build relationships with key decision-makers. In addition to the resolution, they also asked for increased federal funding for psoriasis research and support for the Arthritis Prevention, Control and Cure Act of 2005.
In another recent win for the psoriasis community-and a positive step toward more research funding — a key Senate subcommittee recently included language submitted by the Psoriasis Foundation in the report accompanying the appropriations bill that funds the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The report language from the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education encourages NIH to increase and expand the studies it funds related to psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. It also encourages the CDC to work with a national psoriasis organization to develop a program to monitor psoriasis prevalence.
Earlier this summer, the parallel subcommittee in the House adopted similar language supporting increased funding. The House language echoed testimony submitted to the subcommittee by the Psoriasis Foundation. The Foundation also initiated a Dear Colleague letter, co-led by Reps. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., and Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., supporting increased federal funding for psoriasis research. Twenty-five representatives signed the letter before it was delivered to the Republican Chairman and Ranking Democrat of the House subcommittee.
"Awareness is a powerful force against the painful misconceptions that surround many medical problems," said Sen. Smith, one of the lead sponsors of the Psoriasis Awareness Month resolution. "To the extent that we can increase the common understanding of this chronic disease, we can improve patients' lives."
Sen. Lautenberg agreed. "It is my hope that promoting the awareness of psoriasis will increase early diagnosis so others do not suffer from the effects of the disease."
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