For 10th year, Rehabilitation Science students lobby state lawmakers

At 4 a.m. Tuesday, about 80 students from the School of Public Health and Health Professions’ Department of Rehabilitation Science boarded buses bound for the state capitol for Albany Day.

There, they spent the day talking to state lawmakers and their aides, educating them about the profession and its value to the public. Among their biggest fans was New York State Sen. Timothy Kennedy, who is an occupational therapist and whose district includes UB’s South Campus.

This is the 10th year that UB Rehabilitation Science students have lobbied Albany.

The trip began in 2009 with Janice Tona, clinical associate professor and director of UB’s occupational therapy program, and the late Susan Nochajski, the previous OT program director, taking nine students to Albany via train.

Nochajski passed away two days after Albany Day in 2015. Her husband, Thomas Nochajski, a research professor and co-director of the Institute on Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care in the School of Social Work, established the Dr. Susan Nochajski Travel Fund in her honor. The fund has allowed the department to defray the cost of student bus tickets, while providing additional funding for students to attend the New York State Occupational Therapy Association and American Occupational Therapy Association conferences.

The visit coincides with the annual Albany lobbying trip organized by New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), the union that represents more than 600,000 people who work in or are retired from New York’s schools, colleges and health care facilities.

Hundreds of NYSUT members descended on the state Capitol Tuesday to advocate for a $2.2. billion increase in the state budget for school aid, as well as additional funding for public colleges.

“You will never fully know the ripple effect of your advocacy and education of legislators and aides,” Tona wrote in an email thanking the UB Rehabilitation Science students who made the trip.

“In the short term, you increased awareness about very important issues. In the long term, you educated decision-makers and future decision-makers about our profession.  This is very important work, and I hope you will build on this experience in years to come to help shape the future of health care!”

Kimberley Persons and Theresa Brayman, both clinical assistant professors in the department, accompanied the students. “It is truly a labor of love for them and we are fortunate to have such excellent role models at UB,” Tona said.

Sue Ann Sisto, chair of the Department of Rehabilitation Science, thanked the group and extended her “congratulations and pride that I have for these students who represent this profession.”