“We truly are in the trenches,” NPO’s Lewis says. “And we have a responsibility to make sure that our patients get safe health care and that it’s also the best health care they can get. So it’s more than just us.”
Towers says advocating for patients “needs to go beyond the walls of where you’re providing your care. Everyone should see themselves as someone who does advocate for their patients in this way.”
This is why, even when the odds seem to be against you and you have to make repeated attempts to get legislation passed, “you don’t give up,” Lewis says. “You just keep building relationships with those in power, and then those relationships will hold in the long run for you.”