Schedule a Facility Tour

You can coordinate with your dialysis facility to provide a facility tour for your legislators. A facility tour is a great way to educate your community on dialysis issues.

Scheduling the Tour

1. Coordinate with your facility. Speak to your facility administrator about inviting your legislators to your facility before you make formal requests to your legislators’ offices.
2. Cover all your bases. You are represented by two Senators and one Representative. Reach out to all three. Your Representative is more likely to show up in person than your Senators, but your Senators should be able to send an aid at least.
3. Schedule the tour. Work with your Facility Administrator to pick a few dates that work for you and your facility, and call your legislators’ district offices. Ask to speak with the district scheduler. Be sure to submit your scheduling request with at least two weeks advance notice. You should ask to have your legislators visit your facility in-person.
4. Follow up on your request. You may not be able to get an appointment right away, so you may need to make several follow-up calls to set a tour date and time.
5. Keep us in the loop. Let us know when you have a meeting scheduled and we will send you a “leave behind” packet. This is a folder of information that you will give to the district staffer or legislators with whom you meet. Click the button below to let us know you are planning on holding a facility tour.

During the Tour

1. Say thank you. Thank the member and/or their staff for accepting your invitation.
2. Introduce yourselves. Have each person give a brief (1-2 minute) personal introduction.
3. Be inclusive. You are there to provide the patient perspective and to tell your story, but you should let your facility staff members talk about their duties and the facility operations.
4. Share your story. Make sure you speak up and tell your legislators your story.
5. It’s a team effort. Coordinate with the staff at your facility and your fellow patients to make sure everyone delivers the same message. Let us know if you need help with this.
6. You don’t have all the answers. If you can’t answer a question from your legislator or their staff, just let them know that you will get back to them. After the tour, let us know what these difficult questions were and we will help you follow up with the answers.

After the Tour

1. Send a thank you note. Not only does sending a thank you note help establish a working relationship with your legislators, it also gives you the opportunity to remind your legislators about the conversations you had throughout the tour.
2. Gather and send follow up information. If you were not able to answer a question during the visit, work with us to provide that answer to your legislator(s).
3. How did it go? Let us know how the meeting went. What worked and what didn’t? What additional support can we provide for you?