AANMA volunteer Serena Lowe gets her inspiration from her daughter, Bella
It’s a small world — AANMA volunteer Serena Lowe had been visiting Congressional offices all morning, talking with healthcare aides and rallying support for AANMA’s 13th annual Asthma Awareness Day Capitol Hill May 5. The aide at one of her office stops looked familiar.
“Then I realized that she has a child in my daughter’s kindergarten class,” Serena recalls. “When we started comparing notes, we discovered that both of our children have had asthma since they were babies and that we’ve been through many of the same experiences.”
It’s her daughter, Bella, who inspires Serena’s work in healthcare policymaking and her volunteer efforts with AANMA. “The reason I’m committed to AANMA,” she explains, “is because I really want to get to a place where asthma is not something that will detract her from anything she wants to do as a human being.”
Serena met AANMA President Nancy Sander and Director of Patient Advocacy Sandra Fusco-Walker two years ago – and she knew she had found a perfect match. Her background working on Capitol Hill for two different members of Congress, combined with her experience in organizational development and public policy for profit and nonprofit organizations, make her uniquely suited to many AANMA projects.
This year, AANMA has put her to work introducing the Great American Asthma Challenge, the first-ever national grassroots-driven campaign to change asthma care in the United States. (See www.GreatAmericanAsthmaChallenge.org for more information.) This coordinated effort, unveiled May 5 at Asthma Awareness Day Capitol Hill, will bring patients, families, medical care providers, asthma coalitions, legislators and the healthcare industry together to end asthma death and suffering.
Serena says she’s found many of our supporters in Congress have family, friends or staff with asthma or allergies. “This is the easiest ask I’ve ever had to make on Capitol Hill,” she says. “The Great American Asthma Challenge is a great way for federal policy makers and Congressional staff in Washington and their district offices to be part of something at a local level – a grassroots, locally manifested community action initiative. It’s a chance to do something positive and meaningful for their communities and constituents.”
Interested in becoming an AANMA volunteer? Join our network of Outreach Service Coordinators making a difference in their communities. Contact mgieminiani@aanma.org.
First published in Allergy & Asthma Today, Summer 2010
Medical editors: Cathy Boutin and Andrea Holka.
Related posts:
- AANMA to Launch the Great American Asthma Challenge
- The Great American Asthma Challenge – Join the Movement Today!
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