Selected Podcast
Adventures of an Amateur Advocate
Hear from Rachel Culpepper on how to become an advocate to make an impact on nursing issues affecting your patients, community and nursing teams.
Featuring:
Rachel Culpepper, DNP, RN, NE-BC
Dr. Rachel Culpepper is a Service Line Director at a IU Health West Hospital in Avon, Indiana. Her areas of responsibility include Emergency Department, Intensive Care, Progressive Care, and Med Surg. Before her leadership role at IU Health West, she spent 14 years at a health system in Indianapolis from and served in a variety of roles from an Intensive Care bedside nurse to director of operations. Dr. Culpepper is in her second year as the President of Central Indiana Organization for Nursing Leadership and in her first year on the American Organization for Nursing Leadership’s Advocacy Committee. She earned a doctorate of nursing practice from IU School of Nursing in 2019 and holds a nurse executive board certification. Rachel is married to her husband, Nick, has two boys Zac (11), Lucas (9), and two Doberman fur-babies, Roxie and Rosie. Transcription:
Bill Klaproth: This is a special AONL podcast as we speak with session presenters from the AONL 2022 Conference. With me is Rachel Culpepper. She is a nurse leader at a large hospital in Indiana, as we talk about adventures of an amateur advocate.
This is Today In Nursing Leadership, a podcast from the American Organization for Nursing Leadership. I'm Bill Klaproth. Rachel, thank you so much for being here. It's great to talk with you and we're interested to learn about your adventures in advocacy. So how did you become interested in advocacy?
Rachel Culpepper: Well, I became interested a few years ago during my DNP coursework. And before then, I didn't really have much exposure. So I didn't even know that I was about to be interested in something so great. But our professor, many of us didn't have exposure, so our professor started us very basic and we watched a YouTube video on how a bill becomes a law. And I still giggle because I think about that video often, but it really helped me understand the process. Before that, I didn't really have any opportunities or exposure, like I said. But then that year, I was able to go to Washington, DC for an AcademyHealth Conference and I went to Capitol Hill. And that was my first time advocating on Capitol hill. Once I learned about advocacy, I couldn't not be involved. You know, now I had this great information that I couldn't unknow. So now, I feel empowered to be able to continue my work through AONL Advocacy Committee.
Bill Klaproth: Yeah, that's really exciting. I love how you say once I learned about advocacy, there's no way I could not be involved with this. So you really fell in love with this whole process of being an advocate. Is that right?
Rachel Culpepper: Yes, absolutely. I think it's important for nurses to be involved. We are a large workforce and we have a lot of input and impact in the healthcare arena.
Bill Klaproth: Yeah, absolutely. So tell us about your experience on Capitol Hill. I know that can be very exciting being there with all of the history and everything that's going on. So as an advocate, what do you do then? What goes on? Tell us about that.
Rachel Culpepper: I was there with the Indiana State Nurses Association. And they prepped us the morning of. And I thought what I was going to go do is be with a large group of people. And I didn't envision myself being the one talking. So I was like, "Oh, this is going to be a great experience to observe." What I quickly realized is that there was only a group of five of us. And the first legislator we went to talk to was Senator Joe Donnelly. We didn't get to talk to him, but we talked to his staffer. And I remember walking into that room thinking, "Oh my gosh, am I going to have the answers that she's looking for? Am I going to know what they need?" But she made it very conversational and she opened up the question, opened up the conversation with, "What do you need him to know?", which was really good. It kind of eased our anxiety.
That year, our agenda, we were talking about violence against nurses, Title VIII funding and safe staffing. So we shared our stories with her and our troubles as nurses. And what I found was that she was more interested in our experiences and stories, which made it very easy for us to share. I think that was my biggest eye-opener though, because I thought she was going to be asking questions and I was nervous that I wouldn't have those answers. But in all reality, she just wanted to hear our stories and learn what they can do to support us.
Bill Klaproth: So you went there thinking, "I'm just going to sit back and watch and learn," and you were kind of thrust right into it. "Hey, we want to hear from you. Tell us your story" and you're like, "Well, okay, here we go."
Rachel Culpepper: Absolutely.
Bill Klaproth: Yeah. So as an advocate, is that what's expected generally, is you will be prepared to talk about what you're advocating for, get up in front of people, possibly do presentations? Is that all part of being an advocate?
Rachel Culpepper: It is, but I would also say you don't have to go to Capitol Hill to advocate and you don't have to be having face-to-face conversations. You can start locally and you can start with emails. So it doesn't have to be a trip to Washington, DC to advocate.
Bill Klaproth: Wow. That's really good advice. So I was thinking I was envisioning in my head always Washington, DC. But great to hear you say start locally. So you can email your elected public official and advocate on something or give your opinion of something, right? And that's still under the heading of advocacy.
Rachel Culpepper: Absolutely.
Bill Klaproth: So if someone wants to take their advocacy to the next level, are there certain steps someone should take? How do we start small and really kind of work our way up the ladder of advocacy?
Rachel Culpepper: So I would say, first, get to know who represents you, and you can find this information many times on your state government website. So I'm in Indiana. So the first place we looked back in my DNP coursework was IN.gov and put in your ZIP code of where you live and it popped up, who represents you, who's your representative, who's your senator. So I think that is definitely the first step. You can also find this information on AONL's website under the advocacy page.
What's also great, if you connect with an organization such as AONL, many times they will give you the resources and quick easy letters that you can just hit send, and it sends to your legislators for you. It doesn't, like I said, take a trip to Washington, DC. It doesn't take a meeting that you have with them personally. It can, and I think that's the next step, but it doesn't have to start there.
Knowing who represents you and then also doing a little bit of homework on what bills they're currently sponsoring or what bills they aren't currently sponsoring that you would like them to sponsor and use that information to guide your conversations with them.
Bill Klaproth: That is such good advice. So get to know who represents you. Great first step. And then, you can also go to the AONL website and go to the advocacy page. Another good tip. Connect with an organization like AONL who often will have, like you said, templates or things you can use, materials for advocacy. And then, do your homework on current bills, see what is currently out there. So all really, really good advice on really how to advocate for the nursing profession. So this is really great information, Rachel. Thank you so much for your time. Anything else you want to add? Anything else you want to share with us about being an amateur advocate?
Rachel Culpepper: Yeah. I also think I just would add, when legislators are out of session, most of the time they're not living in Washington, DC, they come back to your communities. And many times you will find that they have listening forums that you can go. I know Senator Braun had some listening forums at the local library where I live. And although it didn't work out for my schedule that day, that is an opportunity to be able to go and have that face-to-face conversation with him and bringing in your stories and troubles. That's a great way as well.
Bill Klaproth: Yeah. Excellent thoughts. Well, Rachel, thank you so much for your time and sharing your story and your adventures as an amateur advocate. Really good to know. And I guess from my point of view, the more people get involved like you, the more we can propose and hopefully shape policy and bills in the future, right? So this is really important work to get done what the nursing profession needs to get done.
Rachel Culpepper: Yep. Nurses can make a huge impact.
Bill Klaproth: Yeah, absolutely. Rachel, thank you so much for your time. Great to talk with you.
Rachel Culpepper: Thank you so much.
Bill Klaproth: And once again, that's Rachel Culpepper. And for more information, please visit aonl.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Today In Nursing Leadership. Thanks for listening.
Bill Klaproth: This is a special AONL podcast as we speak with session presenters from the AONL 2022 Conference. With me is Rachel Culpepper. She is a nurse leader at a large hospital in Indiana, as we talk about adventures of an amateur advocate.
This is Today In Nursing Leadership, a podcast from the American Organization for Nursing Leadership. I'm Bill Klaproth. Rachel, thank you so much for being here. It's great to talk with you and we're interested to learn about your adventures in advocacy. So how did you become interested in advocacy?
Rachel Culpepper: Well, I became interested a few years ago during my DNP coursework. And before then, I didn't really have much exposure. So I didn't even know that I was about to be interested in something so great. But our professor, many of us didn't have exposure, so our professor started us very basic and we watched a YouTube video on how a bill becomes a law. And I still giggle because I think about that video often, but it really helped me understand the process. Before that, I didn't really have any opportunities or exposure, like I said. But then that year, I was able to go to Washington, DC for an AcademyHealth Conference and I went to Capitol Hill. And that was my first time advocating on Capitol hill. Once I learned about advocacy, I couldn't not be involved. You know, now I had this great information that I couldn't unknow. So now, I feel empowered to be able to continue my work through AONL Advocacy Committee.
Bill Klaproth: Yeah, that's really exciting. I love how you say once I learned about advocacy, there's no way I could not be involved with this. So you really fell in love with this whole process of being an advocate. Is that right?
Rachel Culpepper: Yes, absolutely. I think it's important for nurses to be involved. We are a large workforce and we have a lot of input and impact in the healthcare arena.
Bill Klaproth: Yeah, absolutely. So tell us about your experience on Capitol Hill. I know that can be very exciting being there with all of the history and everything that's going on. So as an advocate, what do you do then? What goes on? Tell us about that.
Rachel Culpepper: I was there with the Indiana State Nurses Association. And they prepped us the morning of. And I thought what I was going to go do is be with a large group of people. And I didn't envision myself being the one talking. So I was like, "Oh, this is going to be a great experience to observe." What I quickly realized is that there was only a group of five of us. And the first legislator we went to talk to was Senator Joe Donnelly. We didn't get to talk to him, but we talked to his staffer. And I remember walking into that room thinking, "Oh my gosh, am I going to have the answers that she's looking for? Am I going to know what they need?" But she made it very conversational and she opened up the question, opened up the conversation with, "What do you need him to know?", which was really good. It kind of eased our anxiety.
That year, our agenda, we were talking about violence against nurses, Title VIII funding and safe staffing. So we shared our stories with her and our troubles as nurses. And what I found was that she was more interested in our experiences and stories, which made it very easy for us to share. I think that was my biggest eye-opener though, because I thought she was going to be asking questions and I was nervous that I wouldn't have those answers. But in all reality, she just wanted to hear our stories and learn what they can do to support us.
Bill Klaproth: So you went there thinking, "I'm just going to sit back and watch and learn," and you were kind of thrust right into it. "Hey, we want to hear from you. Tell us your story" and you're like, "Well, okay, here we go."
Rachel Culpepper: Absolutely.
Bill Klaproth: Yeah. So as an advocate, is that what's expected generally, is you will be prepared to talk about what you're advocating for, get up in front of people, possibly do presentations? Is that all part of being an advocate?
Rachel Culpepper: It is, but I would also say you don't have to go to Capitol Hill to advocate and you don't have to be having face-to-face conversations. You can start locally and you can start with emails. So it doesn't have to be a trip to Washington, DC to advocate.
Bill Klaproth: Wow. That's really good advice. So I was thinking I was envisioning in my head always Washington, DC. But great to hear you say start locally. So you can email your elected public official and advocate on something or give your opinion of something, right? And that's still under the heading of advocacy.
Rachel Culpepper: Absolutely.
Bill Klaproth: So if someone wants to take their advocacy to the next level, are there certain steps someone should take? How do we start small and really kind of work our way up the ladder of advocacy?
Rachel Culpepper: So I would say, first, get to know who represents you, and you can find this information many times on your state government website. So I'm in Indiana. So the first place we looked back in my DNP coursework was IN.gov and put in your ZIP code of where you live and it popped up, who represents you, who's your representative, who's your senator. So I think that is definitely the first step. You can also find this information on AONL's website under the advocacy page.
What's also great, if you connect with an organization such as AONL, many times they will give you the resources and quick easy letters that you can just hit send, and it sends to your legislators for you. It doesn't, like I said, take a trip to Washington, DC. It doesn't take a meeting that you have with them personally. It can, and I think that's the next step, but it doesn't have to start there.
Knowing who represents you and then also doing a little bit of homework on what bills they're currently sponsoring or what bills they aren't currently sponsoring that you would like them to sponsor and use that information to guide your conversations with them.
Bill Klaproth: That is such good advice. So get to know who represents you. Great first step. And then, you can also go to the AONL website and go to the advocacy page. Another good tip. Connect with an organization like AONL who often will have, like you said, templates or things you can use, materials for advocacy. And then, do your homework on current bills, see what is currently out there. So all really, really good advice on really how to advocate for the nursing profession. So this is really great information, Rachel. Thank you so much for your time. Anything else you want to add? Anything else you want to share with us about being an amateur advocate?
Rachel Culpepper: Yeah. I also think I just would add, when legislators are out of session, most of the time they're not living in Washington, DC, they come back to your communities. And many times you will find that they have listening forums that you can go. I know Senator Braun had some listening forums at the local library where I live. And although it didn't work out for my schedule that day, that is an opportunity to be able to go and have that face-to-face conversation with him and bringing in your stories and troubles. That's a great way as well.
Bill Klaproth: Yeah. Excellent thoughts. Well, Rachel, thank you so much for your time and sharing your story and your adventures as an amateur advocate. Really good to know. And I guess from my point of view, the more people get involved like you, the more we can propose and hopefully shape policy and bills in the future, right? So this is really important work to get done what the nursing profession needs to get done.
Rachel Culpepper: Yep. Nurses can make a huge impact.
Bill Klaproth: Yeah, absolutely. Rachel, thank you so much for your time. Great to talk with you.
Rachel Culpepper: Thank you so much.
Bill Klaproth: And once again, that's Rachel Culpepper. And for more information, please visit aonl.org. And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels and check out the full podcast library for topics of interest to you. This is Today In Nursing Leadership. Thanks for listening.