After spending the past 17 years of her career as an advocate for people living with serious health issues, Amy Goldstein recently was selected as a Sunflower Foundation Advocacy Fellow. She is one of 15 health care professionals chosen from across the state of Kansas to participate in the 2012 Fellowship program.
Goldstein is the senior director of programs, services and advocacy for the Mid America Chapter of the National MS Society. It serves 253 counties in Kansas, Western Missouri, Nebraska and Pottawattamie County in Iowa. The Mid America Chapter offers programs and services to more 11,000 individuals living with MS and annually raises more than $3.5 million to create a world free of MS.
Goldstein understands the importance of advocacy initiatives and working for people in need.
“I think advocacy is so important,” she said, “in order to allow people to realize their own potential.”
She sees the fellowship as an opportunity to improve her leadership skills in advocacy work. The foundation wants the same result.
“The Sunflower Foundation: Health Care for Kansans, based in Topeka, was created in August 2000 as part of the $75 million settlement between Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas, the state attorney general and state insurance commissioner,” as stated on its website, www.SunflowerFoundation.org.
As part of the foundation’s commitment to improve the health of all Kansans, the fellowship program was started to help “leaders in health-related nonprofit organizations develop the understanding, experience and expertise they need to become powerful voices for the Kansans they serve,” according to the website.
“We look for people who have clear professionalism in their field and a depth of knowledge,” said Doug Farmer, the foundation’s vice president for policy. “We want diversity in each class by geography, gender, ethnicity, issues and topic.”
Goldstein fits this profile perfectly.
“I want to improve the lives of people with MS,” she said. “I want to provide an opportunity for them to have a voice, and teach them to be self advocates, as well as advocate for them.”
She believes being a Sunflower Foundation Fellow will help her to meet this goal.
With a master’s degree in social work from the University of Kansas, Goldstein has advocated for people living with a variety of health issues. Although she began her career as a clinical social worker, she soon moved into working in both administration and community outreach. It was during her eight years at the American Cancer Society that she helped open and became the first director of the Kansas City Hope Lodge, which provides free lodging for people undergoing cancer treatments.
“Amy exhibits passion about her issue, MS; and her background in issue advocacy is strong,” Farmer added. “We were excited about how excited she was about both her field and about learning more.”
Goldstein was nominated to be one of this year’s fellows by someone who participated in last year’s fellowship program. Farmer said that fellows either can be nominated by others or self nominated.
As a fellow, Goldstein must attend six, three-day education sessions, during a 12 month period. During these seminars, they attend lectures given by experts from around the country, as well as role play. For example, Goldstein said, at the first session in October they had media training where they heard lectures and then practiced talking in front of cameras.
One session is held in Washington, D.C., where the fellows have the opportunity to put their advocacy training to work. “We facilitate a relationship between fellows and members of congress,” Farmer said. “We want them to know how to bring up an issue, who to talk to and what to ask.”
Farmer said that the Sunflower Foundation also hopes to foster relationships among the growing number of fellows. “We try to help them work together,” he said. “We plan to institute a series of meetings around the state to get fellows together to talk about important current health issues, and how the foundation can facilitate better health for all Kansans.”
Besides her full-time job and her new commitment as a Sunflower Fellow, Goldstein is also the married mother of two. She and her husband, Barry Dicker, are members of Kehilath Israel Synagogue, where they married eight years ago. As a lifelong member of K.I., she currently serves as a vice president of its board of directors. Their older son, Gabe, is in kindergarten at the Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy, while their younger son, Jacob, attends the Jewish Community Center’s CDC.
This full-time advocate and mother is doing what she loves best.
“I think I always have been an advocate,” she said. “It is fun to do this for work and personally.”