With Congress on recess this month, now is an ideal time to reach out and advocate for public health, according to APHA. Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are home in their districts, providing open office hours and town halls where they connect with constituents.

Public health supporters can use the opportunity to educate their elected officials on issues that are important to their communities.

APHA’s Speak for Health campaign offers helpful pointers on how to reach out to decisionmakers, as well as resources on key priorities, such as public health funding, climate change, gun violence prevention and access to care.

“APHA's one-stop shop makes it quick and easy to tell Congress what needs to be done to support public health,” said Jordan Wolfe, MPH, APHA government relations manager, who spoke with The Nation’s Health about APHA’s campaign.

Say I want to contact a member of Congress about a public health topic, but I’m not sure how to go about it. How can APHA help?

The easiest way to contact your congressperson about one of APHA’s priority issues is to use our action alerts. These are pre-written messages that can be sent simply by entering your address. We recommend customizing the alert with your own personal story or expertise to make it more effective.

Supporters can use links sent to their email inboxes or visit the action alert home page. Alerts share a summary of issues and offer pre-written messaging, though advocates can also add their own comments. The process can be completed in a matter of minutes.

What are some other ways members can advocate for public health?

Other great ways to get involved in public health advocacy can include setting up a meeting with your member of Congress. Just email or call their office to get on their calendar. You can also attend their town halls to ask questions about their public health commitment. You can find out when their town halls are by checking their websites.

In addition, you can also compose an op-ed for your local newspaper or weekly on important public health topics. To help you out, there are tips online and we can send you an op-ed template. Just email me at speakforhealth@apha.org.

Also, keep a lookout our for weekly Speak for Health emails from APHA on resources you can use to boost your advocacy efforts.

Tell me about the new Speak for Health fact sheets.

We have 51 state fact sheets — one for every state plus Washington, D.C. — that break down public health funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Health Resources and Services Administration, access to care and other important issues.

These are great to bring to a meeting you have scheduled with a member of Congress to demonstrate why public health funding is important.

What else would you like to say about Speak for Health?

One of the most helpful things that our members can do to help boost the collective public health voice is to share our Speak for Health resources as soon as they get them.

We’ll be sending weekly Speak for Health emails this month with advocacy materials and opportunities — sharing those with your Sections, Affiliates and networks helps get the word out that advocacy is easy and important.

Photo by SDI Productions, courtesy iStockphoto