F I R S T W O R D

Your Story

Secently I had the opportunity to speak before a group of highly specialized medical professionals, composed of therapists, nurses and doctors, at an annual convention in Orlando. The overall topic was “Family Centered Care” and my part of the program was entitled “Lessons Learned.”

Just to spend a night or two away from home takes tremendous juggling on my part. I have to make arrangements for the care of my children, incur additional expenses, prepare meals, contact their teachers, arrange for contingent “sick” care, and then cross my fingers and pray that the babysitter actually shows up and completes the job while I am, at times, thousands of miles away.

But there are some situations that make all the effort worthwhile.

Ever since my family walked through the minefield of an extremely premature birth, I have been committed to giving back. There are lessons that we learned firsthand in caring for our daughter Grace, that no one else can articulate. And even though we will never pass that way again, I can’t, in good conscience, turn my back on the parents of more than 470,000 infants who will be born prematurely this year and on the thousands of caregivers who will be there with them on their journey. So even when it’s not easy, it’s the right thing to do.

And so it goes with political involvement. You have stories that are uniquely yours about how state regulation works for you and what your company needs or doesn’t need from government on a state and federal level. No one else can tell your story with as much passion and truth as you. When legislators hear your story firsthand, it takes on new meaning, especially if it’s happening in their district.

Use your influence and your voice to make a difference. Join with your industry peers when your state travels to Washington D.C. for NAMIC’s Congressional Contact Program visits. Make yourself a fixture in your state house. Make political involvement part of your business plan.

Every April, Grace and I stand before hundreds of people at the start of the March of Dimes WalkAmerica and tell Grace’s story. Sometimes it’s cold and rainy, and it always means getting up early on the weekend and traveling downtown. But those people who get up even earlier and drive even farther and arrive to walk to help fund research to find the causes of premature birth deserve to hear what a difference their commitment can make. And no one can tell them our story like we can. (www.modimes.org)

And no one can tell your story like you. Go tell it.

Laura Biddle-Bruckman
Editor-In-Chief

Posted: Friday, April 01, 2005 12:00:00 AM. Modified: Thursday, April 14, 2005 1:13:03 PM.

Salary Survey: Discounts for Participation & Membership

(317) 875-5250 - Indianapolis | (202) 628-1558 - Washington, D.C.

Contact NAMIC | Press | Advertise | Sponsor

We are 1,400 property/casualty insurance companies serving more than 135 million auto, home and business policyholders, with more than $196 billion in premiums accounting for 50 percent of the automobile/homeowners market and 31 percent of the business insurance market. We are the largest and most diverse property/casualty trade association in the country, with regional and local mutual insurance companies on main streets across America joining many of the country’s largest national insurers who also call NAMIC their home. More than 200,000 people are employed by NAMIC members.