>> Well I have to say that Washington, D.C. is,
even when the nation is questioning what we're doing there, it is an exciting place to be.
It is the only place I could have been to change policy for so many people.
Social workers have the benefit on a daily basis, hopefully,
feeling like they've made a difference.
If I'm working with an organization that has a good idea and we can get Congress to approve it
and the President to sign it into law, it will affect millions of people and that's exciting.
The biggest challenge, one of the biggest challenges is actually getting people back home,
constituents of members of Congress, members of the organizations I work with,
to get involved at the grassroots level.
Congress would much rather hear, usually they'd much rather hear from constituents,
experts in the field, than they would want to hear from lobbyists.
So it's my job to try to convince the people I work with in health and aging to jump in
and write letters, to come to Washington for what we call Capitol Hill Days,
to be involved as advocates, because that makes the case better than I can.