On February 9th and 10th Jean Witt and Sheila Freed attended Nurses Day at the Legislature, which is sponsored by the South Dakota Nurses Association. We heard updates from the Department of Social Services as well as the Department of Health. A tour of the Capitol followed as well as an orientation and advocacy session where we learned how a bill becomes a law, effective lobbying strategies and how to testify before a legislative committee. Later in the evening we had an Hors D’Oeuvres session with the legislators in which we were able to discuss nursing issues on a one to one basis. On Tuesday morning we had a booth in the Rotunda where we discussed that School Nursing is more than “Band Aids and Butterflies.” At the booth, we were able to hand out water with the School Nurse label and share about the role of the school nurse. We talked to nursing students as well as legislators. It was a great chance to learn how our government works and the more we learn our legislators the better we can advocate for the health of the school children in our state. Originally posted March 10, 2009.