My Experience at the OMSA Lobby Day 2014
On Monday April 14th, over 40 medical students from across Ontario arrived at Queen’s Park to meet with Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) and discuss the importance of health human resources (HHR).
On Monday April 14th, over 40 medical students from across Ontario arrived at Queen’s Park to meet with Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) and discuss the importance of health human resources (HHR).
On my way to my first OMSA Lobby Weekend session on Saturday morning, I found myself reflecting on previous advocacy conversations I've had with political representatives.
Last year I had the opportunity to attend OMSA's annual Lobby day. This day is actually part of an entire weekend where OMSA not only lobbies for an important issue in healthcare, but gives medical students a crash course in leadership and political advocacy.
Earlier this month, medical students from across Canada gathered in the nation’s capital to participate in the Canadian Federation of Medical Students' Lobby Day. As they do every year, many Ontario students travelled to Ottawa to spend the weekend discussing health care policy, learning from talented peer speakers as well as leading physician advocates. On Monday, they took to the Hill to engage Canada's leaders in a discussion of health human resources and accessible housing for all Canadians.
OMSA was mentioned on Oct 29, 2013 by the Hon. Deb Matthews in the Review of 2013-2014 Estimates for the MOHLTC. She and her Deputy Minister cited the concerns of Ontario medical students regarding specialty job shortages and they referenced the Health Force Ontario (HFO) projections of 2010 (available here) as evidence that the Ontario government is eager to facilitate a
OMSA successfully passed FOUR motions at the most recent OMA
General Council meeting held in Toronto, Ontario during the
weekend of November 12, 2011! The General Council represents one
of the avenues through which OMSA advocates on behalf of Ontario
medical students. We would like to thank everyone who submitted
responses to the Negotiations Survey sent out a few weeks ago -
your answers were very helpful in clarifying the proposed
motions.
The motions passed by the General Council were as follows: