Please find below the third issue of our new monthly advocacy newsletter, the AAdvocate. Each month we’ll share news about our growing advocacy efforts and ask you to Take Action! on an important issue. We welcome and encourage your feedback-tell us what you like, don’t like, or whatever’s on your mind. Please direct all comments to me, Lisa Butler, at lisa@naaf.org or 415-472-3780. Many thanks for helping to make a difference.

1. Senate Letter Sent to NIAMS with 5 Signers
   
   Great work, NAAF Advocates! Because of the congressional interest that was gained around alopecia areata during the 2007 NAAF Conference in Washington DC, the United States Senate sponsored and drafted a letter similar to the one that went through the House of Representatives with the intention of drawing the attention of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) to the National Alopecia Areata Registry. Active for two weeks and closing on Monday, August 1, 2007, this letter gained five Senate signers; Senator Isakson (GA), Senator Lautenberg (NJ), Senator Kohl (WI), Senator Landrieu (LA) and Senator Casey (PA). Thank you so much to the many advocates who reached out to their Senators and urged their interest in this letter. Even if your Senator didn’t sign onto this letter, the connections that you made during the process will be beneficial in the future.
   
   
2. NAAF Begins Process of Developing Prostheses-Coverage Campaign
   
   Made possible by a Technical Assistance Grant (TAG) from the National Health Council, the National Alopecia Areata Foundation (NAAF) is off and running towards our federal campaign goal of enacting legislation to require some level of Medicaid coverage for hair prostheses. During the month of September the TAG-Team has been focused primarily on identifying and contacting advocates who are in a key district as well as preparing our fact sheets for the campaign. The Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health is the committee of jurisdiction for this campaign, so it is imperative that the TAG-Team reaches out to the members of Congress who sit on this committee. If your Representative is one of the following, you have most likely heard from me. If not, please email me immediately. We can’t move on with the campaign until we speak with these Members, and we need constituents (you!) to get us in the door.
   
   Energy & Commerce Subcommitee on Health: Representatives Pallone (NJ), Waxman (CA), Towns (NY), Gordon (TN), Eshoo (CA), Green (TX), DeGette (CO), Capps (CA), Allen (ME), Baldwin (WI), Engel (NY), Schakowsky (IL), Solis (CA), Ross (AR), Hooley (OR), Weiner (NY), Matheson (UT), Dingell (MI), Deal (GA), Hall (TX), Cubin (WY), Wilson (NM), Shadegg (AZ), Buyer (IN), Pitts (PA), Ferguson (NJ), Rogers (MI), Myrick (NC), Sullivan (OK), Murphy (PA), Burgess (TX), Blackburn (TN), Barton (TX).
   
   
3. AAdvocates: Take Action!
   A). Send a Letter to the Editor Today:
   While the Congressional ‘issue-du-jour’ in the media is still the President’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), NOW is a perfect time to write a Letter to the Editor of your local papers(daily papers & weekly papers) expressing your insurance concerns, and subsequently introducing your community to our upcoming federal coverage campaign. The letter should be brief and to the point, and could be formatted like this;
               Dear Editor,
               In light of the current wave of press about the President’s veto of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), I would like to express my concerns on an insurance related issue that affects not only children, but men and women with the autoimmune skin disease alopecia areata. Alopecia areata, which causes hair loss, does not discriminate, affecting 5 million Americans of every ethnicity, age and gender. The common quality that resonates across the board with everyone affected is that alopecia areata is a life altering disease not currently able to be cured or even acceptably treated.
               Because of this, many children, women and men who have been hit with this diagnosis turn to purchasing a hair prosthesis as a way to cope with their new identity without hair. However, because of the costs associated with hair prostheses and the fact that insurance companies don’t cover the any portion of this purchase because they see the necessity as cosmetic, many more go without.
               PERSONAL CONNECTION: BRIEF PARAGRAPH ABOUT YOUR CONNECTION TO ALOPECIA AREATA. END WITH SOMETHING LIKE: THERE ARE TOO MANY INDIVIDUALS LIKE MYSELF< MY CHILD< MY WIFE< MY MOTHER TO ACCEPT THIS ANY LONGER.
               It’s time for Congress and Insurance companies to do something about this. I speak for 2% of our community that has alopecia areata, and the many more who support someone who does, when I say that I am fed up!
   
   
4. AAdvocate Inspiration
   As was mentioned earlier, I have been excitedly contacting individuals whose Representative sits on the Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health during the past few weeks. Realizing just how important this step is in moving forward with our campaign for insurance coverage, Patti Serna of New Mexico took the initiative to contact her Representative, Heather Wilson, directly (they had crossed paths in the past within the community) and ask for her help at this stage of our campaign. Because of Patti’s motivation and commitment as an advocate, NAAF has just scheduled their first conference call with a member of Heather Wilson’s staff. Thank you, Patti for reminding us that, though it might be unknown, the job of an advocate needn’t be scary. By letting your Representative know that you are a constituent, and that you are passionate about something, they have no choice but to listen.