[PROCESS] Breaking Barriers in The Evergreen State ft. Sarah Brown, CAA

Discover how Washington Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants President, Sarah Brown, paved the way for CAAs in Washington State. Hear her PROCESS from Georgia to Seattle, balancing career & family, and breaking legislative barriers in this 2024 CAA victory.

Do you want CAAs licensed in all 50 states? Then you should
1. Join the AAAA (American Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants)
2. Donate to the AAAA Legislative Fund
3. Listen to ep. 35 [PROCESS] The Stars Align in Nevada ft. CAAs Stephanie Zunini, Jada Wabanimkee and Joey Parrish

Do you want to work in Washington state? Then you should
1. Donate to the WAAA (Washington Academy of Anesthesiologist Assistants)
2. Join the WAAA
3. Read the WA AA bill SB5184

Do you have the desire to open a new state? Then you should
Email the AAAA Legislative Committee Chair, Brie Seekford, CAA

and just for fun: Pic of WA Governor signing the CAA bill into law ft. Sarah and her 5 day old baby!

You can now text me! Questions/Suggestions

Sign up to learn how you can join the first Pre-AA cohort of CAA Matters and get a rare head start in AA school. Learn More

+Check out my Pre-AA Highlight on IG

Stay Connected by subscribing to the Awakened Anesthetist Newsletter-
for more CAA specific resources, exclusive content and offers.

Watch episodes of Awakened Anesthetist Now on YouTube!

Let's Chat! awakenedanesthetist.com or on IG @awakenedanesthetist

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Again, I had that very similar feeling that I
mentioned about having an AAschool, where I felt like I
should just know how to do thisalready.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Welcome to the Awakened Anesthetist podcast,
the first podcast to highlightthe CAA experience.
I'm your host, mary Jean, andI've been a certified
anesthesiologist assistant forclose to two decades.
Throughout my journey andstruggles, I've searched for
guidance that includes my uniqueperspective as a CAA.
At one of my lowest points, Idecided to turn my passion for

(00:37):
storytelling and my belief thatthe CAA profession is uniquely
able to create a life by designinto a podcast.
If you are a practicing CAA,current AA student or someone
who hopes to be one, I encourageyou to stick around and
experience the power of being ina community filled with voices

(00:57):
who sound like yours, sharingexperiences you never believed
possible.
I know you will find yourselfhere at the Awakened Anesthetist
Podcast.
Welcome in.
Welcome, everyone to seasonfour of the Awakened Anesthetist
Podcast.
I'm really excited to haveSarah Brown, who you may have

(01:21):
heard of, because she just didsomething really big and
important for certifiedanesthesiologist assistants and
we're here today to talk aboutit, and I'm just really excited
to bring another season ofprocess episodes to our
community to really give anexample of what it means to use
the CAA profession to live alife by design rather than

(01:42):
default, and Sarah is anotherprime example of that.
So let me go ahead and give youthe timeout and the logistics
behind Sarah before we jump intoour episode.
Sarah is a 2011 Emory grad.
She, after graduation, workedfull-time in Georgia, in
Gainesville and then in Atlanta,and then she took a big move

(02:05):
and moved across the country tothe state of Washington where
she pursued another degree andis currently working as a
therapist in Washington and thenworked really hard as the
president of the WashingtonAcademy of Anesthesiologists
Assistance and just passed thelegislation for CAAs to work in

(02:29):
that state in 2024.
So I'm excited to give you alla lot more details and to meet
Sarah and hear her incrediblejourney.
So I just wanted to welcome you, sarah, to the Awakened
Anesthes podcast.
Thank you, thanks, mary Jean,happy to be here.
I know this is an excitingopening episode and I hope every

(02:54):
season I open the season withanother state passing and maybe
so many states passing that Ican't interview everyone.
Yeah, so, yeah so.
I love to start with a rapidfire round.
It really scratches a nosy itchfor me, and here I just think
it's fun to hear who you are andhow it relates to who I am as
well, and maybe the listeners.
Okay, let's do it.
I don't know why this questionis so interesting to me, but

(03:16):
what time do you go to bed?
What time do you get up?
Oh, geez.
Give details.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
Well, I'm a mother of two young children, so pretty
much by the time they go to bedI am not too far behind them, so
I would say by nine each nightyeah, I'm.
I'm pretty much done for theday, and then I'm waking up
usually around seven um, so it'sa good long stretch considering
that I have, you know, twolittle good for you.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
I feel like that's an absolute feat, because you have
a newborn or a few months old,correct?
Yeah, she's four months old.
Four months old, yes, so you'redoing great Awesome.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, not too bad, huh?
When you're waking up at seven,are you drinking a cup of
coffee or are you a tea person?

Speaker 1 (04:04):
Oh, coffee for sure, yeah, yeah, I do like fresh
grounds and pour over, usuallyAlso have a Nespresso.
So usually one of those two orboth.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
And you live in Washington, so it's kind of like
you can't not be into coffee.
I feel like For sure yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
Or make a run with the kids to a coffee shop.
That's fun too.
Yes, what's something thatnever gets old Surfing.
Oh really, yeah, yeah, surfingis one of those things I feel
like I could do forever.
I never get tired of it whenI'm out there Not that I get to

(04:47):
do it a ton living like in theinland Northwest, but when I
have the opportunity I could doit all day long If the sun
weren't beating down on me.
That's the rate limiting factorthere, but otherwise never gets
old, yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:01):
Very interesting.
I have, of course, like athousand more questions I'd love
to ask you, but maybe anothertime.
Sure, tell me about growing upand what it was like to be you,
maybe the culture you grew up inor the environment and how that
shaped you.

Speaker 1 (05:17):
Well, I grew up in Georgia, so in the South, and I
grew up in a town calledGainesville, georgia, um, and I
grew up in a town calledGainesville, georgia, just about
an hour north of Atlanta, and,um, I grew up with two older
brothers and, uh, parents stillmarried and, um, my parents
actually both grew up inGainesville too and their

(05:39):
parents grew up in Gainesville,so it is a very like old
Southern family, southern familythat's been in the same town
forever.
So I'm really, you know, in myfamily at least, the first
person to leave Georgia.
My family was, you know, we'relike middle class and you know,

(06:01):
I was listening to Lindsay'sepisode recently and how she
talked about growing up with afamily who was always like
education driven.
My family was similar, but itwas really medically education
driven, so that was always justwhat I assumed I would do.
Didn't hurt that I was, you know, good at it and gifted in math

(06:24):
and science too.
So, um, yeah, I grew up, my dadwas a pharmacist, my
grandfather was a surgeon, myuncle's a surgeon, um, you know,
lots of cousins and things likethat were in the medical field
as well.
My brother is an AA also.
So, yeah, it's just kind of umthe path that I assumed I would

(06:46):
take and didn't really knowanything different.
And my parents are still inGainesville today.

Speaker 2 (06:53):
Wow, I'm just so interested to hear how you moved
away from just all thatstability and like what drove
you, so I'm excited to get there.
When did you first hear aboutthe CA profession?
Were you thinking you weregoing to go to medical school
and then this fell into your lap?
Or because of your brother?

Speaker 1 (07:10):
Yeah, I definitely just heard about it first from
my brother.
He was a few years ahead of mein age and school and everything
.
So actually it's funny me andboth my older brothers all were
thinking about pharmacy schoolwhile we were in college because
my dad was a pharmacist.
Pharmacy school is extremelycompetitive, mainly because

(07:32):
there aren't very many pharmacyschools, especially in Georgia.
It's a small class size,there's not a lot, so it's
pretty competitive.
Just it's a small class size,there's not a lot, so it's
pretty competitive.
I knew that you know going intoit, but probably around like my
sophomore year is when mybrother entered AA school and so

(07:55):
that quickly shifted for mebecause I learned of the program
and he really talked it up andI did some shadowing of a family
friend who's ananesthesiologist and was like,
okay, this is probably a betterfit for me.

Speaker 2 (08:11):
And what, at that age , made it seem like a better fit
over, maybe, pharmacy schooland feeling like your chances
were as good.
Are there more pharmacy schoolsthan AA schools, or is it
there's more AA schools thanpharmacy schools?

Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah, I was thinking better fit.
I just enjoyed it more.
I didn't love being behind thecounter.
I grew up seeing my dad as apharmacist and worked as a
pharmacy tech through highschool and college and I did not
.
I love the flexibility of likenot having a traditional nine to
five and kind of being able todo it part time and you know,

(08:45):
imagining my future and thinkingthat would be a good fit for me
, but I did not love beingbehind that counter all day and
I wanted something a bit moredynamic.
So when I started shadowing andlearning about anesthesia, I
was like, okay, this, your, yourday is not like Groundhog Day.
You're have a very differentday every day of the week.

(09:07):
So that was much more appealingto me, as well as the potential
to work full-time, part-timeand have the flexibility for a
lifestyle that I wanted.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
I just think it's interesting your perspective on
what it means to be a CAA,because you were growing up in
the hub of CAAs.
Like I think that's interestingthat you're like, oh, one day I
could work part time as a CAA.
And for me, I, you know, I grewup in Cleveland, Ohio, which
was another hub, but I justnever saw anyone working part
time.
Like I feel like that's a newerphenomenon that you and I both

(09:44):
have got to enjoy at differenttimes.
So, and I just think that istrue, Like it is true now that
you can work part-time or have aflexible shift or something,
but that's evolved, you know.
Yeah, absolutely, Absolutely,Very interesting.
Okay, so for all of theprospective AAs who are
listening, or people who arecurrently in AA school and are
needing a little bit of theywant to relate to you, I would

(10:07):
love for you to share how AAschool was for you the good, the
bad, what you remember, whatyou blocked out.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
Oh, geez, yeah, Let me take myself back there.
It's been about 13 years now,so well, 15 years since I
started.
It was a time that felt likehere's what I remember.
I remember starting AA schooland feeling like I should

(10:37):
already know everything there isto know about anesthesia.
And I don't know if that wasjust my own internal
expectations of myself or ifthat was the preceptors that I
had and all of that, butprobably a combination of both.
But I remember feeling veryoverwhelmed by that and starting

(11:01):
day one, I'm like I'm alreadybehind and when I look back on
that now I'm like that is sosilly.
I was literally there to learnthis and so I felt pretty
overwhelmed at times and havingto like remind myself like I've
only been doing this for a month, I've only been doing this for
six months, like this is thepoint of anesthesia school is to

(11:21):
learn and to not feel like I'vealready, I need to know it all
already.
So I would say that wasprobably the more challenging
aspect of it to me, like thehours, the long hours, all of
that that was okay, like Ididn't necessarily mind that.
That fits my you knowpersonality pretty well.

(11:45):
I had a lot of fun too.
I, you know, was really goodfriends with a few of my
classmates and we had long studysessions and you know, stay up
late, drink a lot of coffee,like I loved traveling second
year and doing the rotations,especially when I got to do it
with good friends and doing therotations, especially when I got

(12:08):
to do it with good friends.
So I have really fond memoriesof that part of it and seeing
myself develop and flourish andkind of coming into my own.
Yeah, I think that if I couldgive some advice to my younger
self and to, potentially, tosome SAAs, listening would be to
go a bit easier on yourselfwith your expectations and
remember that you're here tolearn.

(12:29):
So ask the questions, even ifyou feel like they're dumb
questions, because this is youropportunity to do that and to
learn the way that you like topractice, learn best practices
and to absorb that informationwithout having to you know

(12:49):
posture in some way that you arenot kind of in the dark and
you're you know you're not alittle bit confused and lost at
times.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
So it is such a delicate balance, man.
It is just it's tricky.
It's a tricky way to learnlearning medicine.
I mean, medical students gothrough this, residents go
through this that you are,you're in the real life, non
simulation learning.
It's very tricky.
So that's great advice, and Ihear a few people who are

(13:23):
listening screaming, ask herwhen it clicked, like when did
you feel like, oh, okay, now Ihave it.
At what point in your education?
As a hope Maybe?

Speaker 1 (13:35):
this is a hope for them listening.
It definitely was not untilsecond year.
Um, I would say that first timethat I could run an entire case
, start to finish, withoutwithout needing to like look
behind me in my preceptor to belike are you happy with what I'm
doing?
Am I doing the right thing?

(13:56):
You know that feeling that weall have of like let me read
your face to like see if you're,if I'm doing it right or if I'm
gonna get the look of like whatare you doing?
you know, oh the look, yeah thelook of just like, oh man, these
students, you know, I think forme having that confidence of

(14:19):
like I don't need to look behindme, I know what I'm doing is is
best for this patient, it's theright thing to be doing at the
right time.
I know what I'm doing is bestfor this patient, it's the right
thing to be doing at the righttime, and I know that I do have
eyes on this situation right nowso I'm not going to get into
anything dangerous or out ofline.
But for me that felt reallyempowering to be like Like okay,

(14:52):
I don't really need the backupmentally, emotionally or
whatever you know to affirm thatI am doing right by my patient.
So that for me was like gettinga few of those under my belt.
I was like, okay, I actuallycan do this.

Speaker 2 (15:08):
So definitely sometime second year, I would
say halfway through somewherearound in there.
Yeah, yeah, that sounds, thatsounds about right.
Yeah, and I just think ifyou're in AA school right now,
you know exactly what you'retalking about, so I think
they'll find that helpful.
Great, walk us through, maybejust immediately post-graduation
, and you stayed in Georgia fora while.
Maybe fast forward us throughwhat made you leave Georgia and

(15:30):
go to Washington.

Speaker 1 (15:32):
So yeah, after practicing in Georgia full-time
for four or five years, I was ata point in my life where I kind
of got an itch to try somethingdifferent.
And not that I wasn't happywith my profession as an AA, but
I thought, you know, this isthe opportunity, before I have

(15:55):
too many roots, to exploredifferent interests of mine.
And so I felt for a long timeactually a real interest in
mental health therapy and I dida few like trainings on the side
, similar to what I hear you,you know, do like little

(16:16):
trainings here and there andgathering these skills and
resources.
And I did that for a while.
One of the trainings that I didwas in Seattle and I flew out a
few times a year to anorganization called the Allender
Center and did some trainingswith them and kind of just felt

(16:38):
like, whoa, this is reallysomething that I want to pursue,
and so they have a master'sprogram as well.
And so I decided to put a pauseon my full-time job in Georgia
and kind of uproot my whole lifeand move to Seattle to pursue

(16:59):
this.
And, honestly, when I started Iwas like I'm going to give it
one semester, you know like, letme just see, I had a great
working environment in Georgia.
I was working in AtlantaMedical Center, had a fantastic
group and boss who was.
I talked to him about all this.
I was like I need to.
I need to have a few thingslike safety nets lined up for me

(17:22):
to feel like I can do this.

Speaker 2 (17:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
I said.
One is that I need to know Ican come back to my job if I and
when I I was expecting to comeback when I decide that I'm
ready to come back.
And he was like, yeah, just saythe word, like we'll have you
back.
And I was like two, I need tobe able to continue to work PRN,
and can I do that here?
And he was like great, love it,Like whenever you want to come.

(17:48):
So it was honestly just hard tosay no to at that point, because
I had that safety net and Ithought I felt really free to
try something, knowing I couldcome back.
And so, with his support,really I felt like let me go and

(18:08):
try this.
So I did.
I moved to Seattle and thosefirst few weeks I was like I'm
not going to make it, I'm notgoing to do this, I'm going back
.
You know it felt so brilliantan identity shift.
You know that occurred, but youknow I stuck it out and that
was almost 10 years ago, nearly10 years ago.

(18:31):
So I continued to work PRN atthat hospital until it closed a
couple years ago.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
So I just I love this .
I just think this is exactlywhat gets me so excited about
the CAA profession and how touse it as a tool.
I want to know more about thesafety piece, because that is so
real and I think is one of thestrongest aspects of the CAA
profession that it really cangive you safety, and I would

(19:02):
love if you could be blunt aboutwhat that exactly meant in
terms of finances or that job,like being able to come back to
the job and who this manager was.
Was this an anesthesiologist?
Was this a CAA?
Who was this person who was sowilling to work with you?

Speaker 1 (19:19):
So he was an anesthesiologist and his name
was Dr Harris and he was the onewho I had those conversations
with.
He was sort of the chief of thegroup at the time.
Yeah, we just always had areally great working
relationship.
I felt he really had my backmultiple times, not just on this
, not just on this issue, but alot of issues.

(19:44):
He just really went to bat forme and I imagine other AAs and
CRNAs as well that were in ourgroup.
So in my opinion he was afantastic boss to work for and,
looking back clearly on my story, he's a big part of why I felt
free to pursue more of who Iwanted to be.

(20:06):
So, yeah, that type ofleadership is hard to come by.
Even when he didn't necessarilyunderstand or wasn't his thing
that he would have chosen, hecould see that that's what I
needed and kind of set the stagefor me to have that environment
to come back to that group, tocome back to for the next.

(20:26):
You know, eight years seven oreight years that I continued to
fly back and forth from Seattleto Atlanta to work the weekends.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Yeah, Every weekend, or what were you trying to hit?
Like a monetary goal, or werethey like here are the days you
could work, and so you had tomake that work.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
It was a monetary goal, for sure.
It was basically enough just toensure that I didn't have to
work in Seattle, Like a lot ofmy classmates, you know, in grad
school, working at Starbucksand stuff like that.
So I just didn't want to haveto do anything like that and so
I made enough money to pay myrent, have money for food and of

(21:06):
course, I had some savings thatI was using to pay for school
and that I could dip into andstuff.
So that was part of it.
I wanted to work at least oneweekend a month, which is what I
did for a very long time.
Sometimes two weekends a month,Christmas break, summer breaks,
things like that when I wasn'tin school.
I would come back for longerperiods and work two weeks,

(21:29):
three weeks a month.
It was a really easy idealsituation for me.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
Oh my goodness.
I just see so many people whoare CAAs right now thinking like
, oh my goodness, I've neverthought maybe I could sort of do
it this way and then also maybepursue this other side thing I
want or this other next thing Iwant and for all the students
listening, I do theseopportunities still exist.

(21:55):
This wasn't like a thing thathappened in what?
2014?
Was that?
When we're kind of talkingabout this?

Speaker 1 (22:02):
Yeah, 2015 is when I moved to Seattle.
So yeah, and that went on for,like I said, until Atlanta
Medical closed in 2022.

Speaker 2 (22:11):
Yeah, I'm doing something similar to pursue new
things for myself as well,working PRN and basically get to
pick the days I want to work inKansas City, the big hospital,
and sort of use it as supportfinancial support as well as
stability in terms of like.
Okay, if this new thing doesn'tfly, I can always come back to
working as a CAA, which I lovetoo, which is a nice perk.

(22:35):
It's not something I don't wantto do, right.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
Right, exactly, and that's very similar to, and to
answer, your question aboutsafety and all of that.
That was a big part of it forme was that the CA profession is
lucrative and it's very hardwork at times.
But I felt, after workingseveral years full time, full

(22:58):
call, I felt I was really goodat it.
You know, I had that sense oflike, I feel pretty confident
about what I'm doing and alwaysthere's room to grow, always
there's room to, you know,improve.
But I think that was part ofthe safety that I knew like I'm
not getting out of this tooearly.

(23:18):
I'm not, like you know, goingPRN or whatever too soon.
I felt like coming back once aweekend or once a month or twice
a month, you know, for a fewshifts each time kept my skills
up.
It kept me, you know, engagedin the job enough and I had that
strong few years of like reallycoming into my own and

(23:40):
developing my skills andknowledge and confidence as a
provider to step away from itand know that coming back
wouldn't be too intimidating.
So there was that piece of itand the financial piece of like.
It's really risky, after havinga very well-paying, comfortable

(24:02):
job, to say I'm going to stepaway from that.
Most people don't do that and Igot all sorts of sideways looks
from family, from friends, fromcolleagues about why would you
do that, and it's no secret thatmental health therapists make
significantly less than AAs, soit was never a purely financial

(24:23):
choice for me to do this.
It was like I wanted to bereally authentic to myself and I
knew that I had more of my lifethat I wanted to develop and
explore.
But, like I live in reality, Ineeded to know that I had some a

(24:45):
safety net of job to come backto that could pay the bills.
If it came to that and which is, in part, you know we'll get
into this, I'm sure, but why?
I was really passionate aboutbringing AAs to Washington too,
so that I didn't have to travelacross the country anymore.

(25:07):
You know, and they're verypersonal for me as well, as you
know, to develop and help theprofession and the patients of
Washington.
But truly driving it was apersonal desire of like I don't
want to have to sacrifice anypart of myself and, you know,
having two kids now it just gotan Atlanta Medical Center

(25:27):
closing, it just got more andmore difficult for me to have
that sense of safety andsecurity to go back to.
So I had to get creative andcreate it here.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
So, mm-hmm, and the journey began.
I just, I just love that, sarah.
I'm just really proud of you asa fellow CAA.
I just really love the braverythat it took to do that and the
authenticity following.
Your authenticity is so.
It just gets me all excited.
So I hope people feel inspiredas well when they hear that

(26:01):
story.
And yeah, let's get into theWashington legislative process,
because absolutely that issomething we're celebrating on
this episode.
I think the first question Iwant you to answer is just we
know a little bit about your whyand the passion behind it, but
how did you logistically getinto making a difference in the

(26:21):
CAA legislation in Washington sowhen I was working one of these
period shifts in AtlantaMedical Center, I was working
with an old colleague of minewho I worked with in a different
hospital in Georgia.

Speaker 1 (26:35):
He was also working PRN that day and he was Ralph
DePauw and he was on the boardof Quade at the time and he was
like, hey, you're living inWashington, right?
He's like, would you beinterested in starting a state
academy there?
And I was like I don't reallyknow what that means, but sure

(27:00):
you know.
How hard could it be?
And he was, like you know, Ilater found out that the WSSA,
the Washington State Society ofAnesthesiologists, was hoping to
introduce AA legislation andthey contacted Quad A to let
them know.
And so Quad A said well, we'regoing to need, you know, some

(27:23):
boots on the ground inWashington, as you know, an AA
Like who do we have?
And you know there aren't manyof us out here, so I was kind of
the obvious choice there, Ithink.
Um, that's kind of how I waspursued about it, and a lot had
already been going on behind thescenes as far as the WSSA and
their lobbying team getting abill going.

Speaker 2 (27:47):
And what year was this?
What year did you start theState Component Society?
2021.
2021.
Okay, so very recent, honestly.
The bill passed in 2024 and youhad started the State Academy
for Certified AnesthesiologistAssistant in Washington in 2021.
And, unbeknownst to you, justkind of piecing this together.

(28:09):
If I'm hearing you correctly,there was a lot of movement
behind the scenes that you kindof were plugged into when you
said, sure, I can start theState Component Society, yeah,
why not?
And then you were like, oh,okay, yeah, okay.
So I think it probably will behelpful for everyone who's
listening.
If you don't know about how aCAA bill or an AA bill is passed

(28:33):
in a state, it can be confusing, and I only learned about this
last year when I talked so indepth to Nevada, and so I do
want people to walk away fromthis episode with like a really
grounded understanding of whatan AA bill passing looks like in
terms of the steps, and I alsowant to say it's a little bit
different in every state, soit's not something that is

(28:54):
absolutely 100% applicable stateto state, but give us just a
basic overview, if you could, ofthe legislative process in the
state of Washington, okay, so,every year there's a legislative
session, and the session isthis period of time, usually a
couple of two or three months,where that is the time of year

(29:15):
where bills are heard and votedon, so that doesn't happen year
round.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
That happens during specific times called the
session, and so a lot of work isdone in between sessions to
actually get the bill to thepoint where it's being heard in
the session, and so that hadalready been going on behind the
scenes, and so when ICANN cameon, a lot of those conversations

(29:44):
with legislators were alreadyhappening, the bill had already
been drafted and they wereworking on what's called a
sunrise review, which is notunique to Washington, but I
don't know that.
It happens in every state, andthat is when the Department of
Health studies a profession, anew profession, and or maybe

(30:05):
they study a specific part of aprofession that there's
legislation about.
At any rate, that SunriseReview is very extensive and had
already been going on too.
So by the time I came onto thescene, the bill was being
introduced in the 2021 sessionand the Sunrise Review had been

(30:26):
done and was completed, and theyhad given their recommendation
to license AAs in Washington.
So may I interject?

Speaker 2 (30:35):
for a moment.
Sure, yeah, can you justexplain who was doing all that
work?
If it wasn't you and it wasn'tthe Quad A, who was that?

Speaker 1 (30:44):
That was mostly the lobbyist for the WSSA, the
Washington State Society ofAnesthesiologists, and they hire
a lobbyist to help work withlegislators to draft the bill,
to get the Sunrise Review going,and they kind of.
That's why we have lobbyists,because we're like anesthesia

(31:06):
providers, we don't know whatneeds to be done.
We're like anesthesia providers, we don't know what needs to be
done.
So they hired their ownlobbyist to follow all these
rules, follow all these stepsand get a bill introduced.
So that was already up andrunning by the time I came on.
Then what happens during sessionis that your bill is first
introduced either to the Senatecommittee or a house committee,

(31:31):
which is, you know, you have twobranches of the legislature the
house, the Senate and thenwithin those branches there's
subcommittees, little committeesthat meet for things like
finances or healthcare orinfrastructure, all those types
of issues.
And so our bill was heard in thehealthcare committee and that

(31:52):
first year it didn't get out ofcommittee, meaning that it
wasn't voted on, it didn't passthe committee.
Then it goes technically to arules committee, so another
committee after the firstcommittee, and then it goes to

(32:13):
the whole one side of thelegislature, so either the House
or the Senate, wherever thebill was introduced, and then,
once, if you get to that thirdstep, it goes back to the other
side of the legislature, into acommittee, into another
committee and then to the wholeof that group and along the way

(32:34):
there's usually amendmentshappening to a bill, and every
time an amendment happens it hasto go times that your bill has
to be voted on and that you haveto stress out about it not

(32:55):
getting passed out of thiscommittee.
So there's a lot of stepsinvolved and then eventually, if
it gets through all of that,then it's put on the governor's
desk for his signature, which isthe final thing that has to
happen.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
So yeah, quite extensive process and extremely
stressful times, yes, I canimagine, and so many out of your
hand moments like where you'rejust waiting for a phone call, I
imagine, or an email to say itpassed, it didn't pass.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
And here's our next steps or an email to say it
passed.
It didn't pass.
And here's our next steps.
Yes, Well, I was notnecessarily waiting on a phone
call to see if it passed or not,because I was either present
physically or watching on Zoomevery committee and every
meeting that was had.
The only ones I couldn't be apart of were the rules, because
those are in-house, they'reclosed and not open to the
public.

(33:47):
But yeah, I was always watching.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
I was always tuning in live, so I was not sitting
around waiting on a phone call.

Speaker 1 (33:57):
You were there.
Yes, I was there.
Yeah, wow, so yeah, there's alot happening in between each of
those times too, because we getlittle snippets of information
from our lobbyist, which is whyshe's there on the Olympia
Capitol having conversations andwe're involved in a lot of
those conversations too and weget information like this

(34:18):
legislator has an issue withthis part of the bill, this
legislator has an issue withthis part of the bill.
We have to meet with them andhelp, educate, help.
There's some compromise thatgoes on.
That's where the amendmentscome in.
You know, there's just like somany fine-tuned little tweaks
that happen behind the scenes tofinally get the bill to where

(34:41):
you get enough votes for it topass, so it's extremely
complicated.

Speaker 2 (34:47):
And this was it was attempted in 2022, in 2023, and
then it passed in 2024.
How many hours do you thinkeach week you put into this for
three solid years?
I mean, I know you did workbefore that as well, but, like
when it was trying to be passed,trying to be passed.

Speaker 1 (35:08):
It's hard to say honestly, because during the
session it was pretty mucharound the clock.
Wow, I didn't probably have tobe that involved but I needed to

(35:32):
be for my own.
That's just my way of being.
But I made myself more involvedthan I probably needed to be
and I think my lobbyist at timeswas like let me just handle it,
especially when the baby wascoming.
You know she's like take abreak, I've got this, you know.
But I'm like what's going on?
I need to know everything.
So during the session I was itwas around the clock this year
In the summer.
In between, very little I meanI would do an email here or

(35:55):
there.
I would, you know, do a post orsomething if I needed some
support in that way.
Met with legislators, you know,occasionally in the downtime,
but during the session thingshappen so quickly that if you
wait 10 minutes to reply to anemail it could be very different

(36:16):
.
Wow, yeah, it was veryfast-paced this year in
particular.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
In 2024, the year that it passed Wow.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
Something we did this year we actually did in 2023,
but it was for the 24 sessionand it was at the request of the
legislators was that we held,we participated in, what's
called stakeholders meetings forthe bill, and so this was an
opportunity and that thelegislators they don't like to

(36:48):
see, they didn't like thecontentiousness of the bill.
So there were you know, therewas a lot of we want this, we
want this and nobody could geton the same page.
And so they suggested and whatoften happens are stakeholders
meetings, and so we participatedin these meetings with the WANA
, which is the WashingtonAssociation of Nurse

(37:12):
Anesthetists, and the WSSA, andlegislators and their staff were
present, and so we had a seriesof stakeholders meetings
leading up to session two todiscuss the bill and to try to
get on the same page about whatwould happen with the bill.

(37:32):
And so I'm not sure if thathappens in every state or not,
but just to give a little bitmore insight into this year,
what it took to get the billacross the finish line was kind
of coming to the table with theWANA, with the WSSA, and making
sure that everyone had a voiceand that these conversations
were happening in real time infront of the legislators.

(37:57):
What often happens and wasfrustrating in the process, is
that we would meet like the WSSAand the Washington Academy
would meet with legislators andwe would kind of give them our
pitch and then two weeks wouldgo by and they would kind of
give them our pitch and then twoweeks would go by and they
would hear another pitch fromthe WANA.
And they have so many billsthat they're hearing and so much

(38:18):
going on that they can'tremember what was said two weeks
ago.
All they can probably rememberis what they're being told right
now, you know, and it can getreally confusing for them and a
lot of information.
And so we found it very helpfulto have those conversations
real time in front of thelegislators so that they could
ask questions of all groupsinvolved, of all the
stakeholders, and we could allprovide our responses in real

(38:42):
time.
And so that took up a good bitof time and emotional energy and
preparation as well this year.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
Thank you for sharing that, because oftentimes AAs
come in as like informationgivers as opposed to like a
contentious party.
You know what I mean.
Like, I just think our positionseems to be we're not here to
fight, we're just here to solvethis problem.
Again, I just think it's hardto have that type of attitude

(39:13):
when the other side is possiblybeing contentious two weeks
after the legislators talk to us.

Speaker 1 (39:19):
Yeah, it is hard because we don't have the upper
hand right.
We're not practicing in thisstate, we don't have a lot of
constituents in this state, sowe have to in some ways tread
lightly because we don't haveyou know, there's not a robust
understanding of our professionand so we have to come in with a
lot of education and a lot ofdefending inaccurate

(39:43):
representations of ourprofession.
And so definitely tricky to dowithout coming across as
contentious, which we don't wantto be, but at the same time not
letting a different narrativerun away.
Like, we definitely wanted tobe in control of the narrative
of AAs, because we are theexperts on AAs, we are the AAs

(40:05):
and we needed to be in controlof that narrative so that we
weren't chasing our tails tryingto readdress misinformation but
we could get the correctinformation out there ahead of
anyone else's.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
So Do you think the process of re-educating is that
what you felt like you weredoing most of the time?
Yes, Wow.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
That's most of the conversations.
If it were only us presentingthe information, of course, I
think any legislator would belike oh okay, this makes a lot
of sense, you know, yeah, butwhen you have different groups
speaking to our profession aboutwhat they understand it to be
or what they've heard it to beand how it impacts them, how

(40:49):
they imagine it will impact them, there's a lot of just honestly
false statements being made notspeaking to anyone's intention
to speak falsely or to lie, butthat just ended up being what it
was is that there waslegislators would hear things

(41:09):
and we would be like that'sactually not true.
So there was a lot of cleanupwork that had to happen the
first couple of yearsinformation before others had

(41:34):
the opportunity to get out theirinterpretation of our
profession, so that we had tokind of come behind and clean
that up.
That's a lot of.
What we do is having the sameconversation over and over and
redirecting legislators back toa different conversation that we
want to have, not about howthis will tear apart another
profession, but how it willactually be good for the
patients of Washington.

Speaker 2 (41:55):
How did you get comfortable speaking to
legislators or speaking in thisstakeholder meeting?
Did you practice?
Did you have someone in yourlife ask you questions?
What were you actually doing toprepare?

Speaker 1 (42:09):
Oh, great question.
Well, by the time I was inthese meetings, I had been doing
this for a few years, but I doremember the first time kind of
starting the academy and we weregetting everything formed.
And again I had that verysimilar feeling that I mentioned
about having an AA school,where I felt like I feel like I

(42:33):
should just know how to do thisalready, because everyone around
me, even the AAs around me whohad been involved in the
legislative process that Iconsulted with, had a language.
It was like learning a secondlanguage and they were already
speaking the language and theyfelt very confident in what they
were saying and doing.

(42:54):
And I was like had that veryfamiliar feeling of like I think
I should already know thisApparently.
You know, I should know how todo this, I should know this
information.
Even just someone saying, oh,the academy or the society or
the session or whatever, I'mlike wait, what's the session
again?
Oh, the society or the sessionor whatever.
I'm like wait, what's thesession again, what's the

(43:15):
society again, what are wetalking about?
You know like the very simpleterms.
I had to ask so many questionsand remember that, like I've
never done this before.
That's why it feels hardbecause it is hard.
I remember meeting with RichardEvans, who was the director of
government affairs at the timefor Quad A, and he was like, oh,

(43:36):
when we start meeting withlegislators, you'll blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah.
And I won't ever forget that,because I was like, wait, we're
going to be meeting withlegislators.
I'm going to no, no, no, no, no, no.
I thought that's what you werefor.
I thought you were for that,not me, and so it felt extremely
intimidating.

(43:56):
At the time I came to learnthat legislators actually really
just want you to be a regularperson and leave the technical
lobbying, politicalconversations up to the lobbyist
, which thank God we had alobbyist, because I could just

(44:17):
be an AA, I could just be myself, I could just tell my story and
kind of ask those questionsthat reveal very quickly to
anyone that I'm not a politician, I'm not in this world, you
know, and that actually feltreally relieving to me.
I didn't have to be, I didn'thave to be a politician, I
didn't have to be a lobbyist.

(44:38):
I could just be an AA and tellmy story and ask those questions
that you know everybody else islike already knows the answer
to, but I don't, and that's okay.
The way I prepared was justreally over time.
You know, the first meetingthat I had with a legislator was
here in Spokane, which is whereI live now Spokane, washington

(45:02):
and we met at a hotel restaurantand the WSSA lobbyists flew
over from the West side of thestate and met with me and this
representative out here and Idon't think I said very much at
all.
I think I was just like, ah,like I don't know what's

(45:23):
happening.
I was pretty nervous.
Over the years I got much morecomfortable talking and, just
you know, speaking up a bit moreand yeah, it took some time.
I had a lot of tremendoussupport from the Quad A, from
folks who have done this beforeme and coaching me, especially
during testimony time in thesession, about what to say, how

(45:48):
to say it to make it concise andunderstandable and how to boil
things down to be a bit moreeasily understood by politicians
who have a lot on their plateand aren't medical experts
usually.
So there is a lot of justlearning by observing and by

(46:10):
doing it.
Repetition.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
I'm so inspired by hearing this.
It's really encouraging, as aregular CAA who I consider
myself to be to hear anotherregular CAA say that they're
just looking to hear your story,they're just looking to find
the humanity within you andconnect with that and be like,
oh okay, I can see why she wantsCAAs to work in this state,

(46:35):
because she's commuting byflight to Atlanta and she has a
family here in Washington, wantsto stay there.
All of that makes sense to themmore so I think I get worried
that like, oh, if I was evercalled to do this, I'd have to
use these expert terms and likewow them with my understanding
of the state legislation and thelaws.

(46:57):
And that's not at all whatyou're saying.
That does maybe happen in someways that lobbyists are doing or
other people, and maybe yougrew into incorporating a little
bit of that language, but atthe basis it was just who are
you, who is Sarah, and sharethat?
Yes, oh, my gosh, that is soinspiring.

Speaker 1 (47:16):
Yeah, it was a huge relief to realize like, oh, I
don't have to be a part of thispolitical group and speak their
language.
It was definitely helpful forme to understand what was going
on.
But, yeah, my lobbyist wasalways like just tell your story
, let me handle all of thepolitics of it.

(47:37):
And that is exactly what weneeded, because you have to have
someone talking the politicsfor bills to get passed.
But it does not have to be you,someone who and they want to
talk to the lobbyists, they wantto have those conversations
with the lobbyists because theyhave a shared language.

(47:57):
They would much rather havethose conversations with
lobbyists than with us, so itwas a win-win for everybody.

Speaker 2 (48:05):
And just if you're listening right now and you're
not sure what a lobbyist is,there is another episode that
was actually the season threeopener, where I interviewed
several people who worked topass the Nevada A bill and what
their exact role is.
So after you're done listeningto this, if you wanna have a
little bit more knowledge andjust hear the legislative

(48:32):
process again at the state level, I will put that link in the
show notes and it would bereally, really helpful to listen
right after this.
Okay, of the many, many, manymore things, I wanna ask you one
of the biggest moments, atleast for us watching on the
outside, because you're alsorunning all the social media for
the Washington Academy ofAnesthesiology Assistance, which

(48:53):
is how I met you and know aboutall of these goings on is that
the bill took a turn in 2024.
It looked like it was going togo to the governor's desk and be
signed in and celebrate and yay.
And then, about two weeksbefore, it all seemed to fall
apart possibly, and I would loveif you could share what you can
about the behind the scenes ofleading up to that that

(49:15):
happening and then the billactually being signed this year.

Speaker 1 (49:19):
Yeah, so when the bill passed the legislature
which means that it got throughall of those committees and both
chambers that I mentioned, gotthrough all of those committees
and both chambers that Imentioned the final step was for
it to go to the governor's deskand our lobbyist was in contact
with the governor's office andthey said this seems like a bill
the governor would sign.
We don't anticipate any issueswith it.

(49:39):
I mean, he doesn't have areally high veto record, so it
just would seem really out ofthe ordinary for that to happen.
And so we felt really confident, and I'm not sure that we ever
really had a reason not to feelconfident, and I'll explain that
later.
But we started to not feelconfident a few weeks after the

(50:01):
bill got out of the legislature.
So it passed the legislature.
We're thinking great, thegovernor is on board, shouldn't
be a problem.
I think there was about a month, if I'm not mistaken, about a
thinking great, the governor ison board, shouldn't be a problem
.
I think there was about a month, if I'm not mistaken, about a
month long period.
The governor had to sign all ofthe bills, and we're talking
hundreds of bills that he has tosign.
So you know, a couple weekswent by and we're like lobbyists

(50:22):
was like it's okay that thebill hasn't been signed yet.
We still got time.
Then, like another week went byand we're like starting to get
a little bit worried.
You know, like what's hethinking?
Cause the, he, the the officewouldn't really give us many
details on what he was thinking.
Um, then we heard that it wasscheduled to be signed and we

(50:42):
were like awesome, like great.
And then about an hour after itwas posted to be signed cause
the agenda is posted publicly tothe governor's website the
agenda changed and thegovernor's office called our
lobbying team and thelegislators and said that bill

(51:03):
has been removed.
And we didn't know why, if itwould be added back, if he was
not going to sign it.
We didn't know what he wasthinking.

Speaker 2 (51:14):
Like reconsider the whole bill after speaking to who
knows who about who knows what.
But something changed his mind,because he's the last step, or
the governor is the last step togetting a bill passed into law
at the state level.

Speaker 1 (51:28):
Correct, yes, okay, and he has the power to getting
a bill passed into law at thestate level, correct?
Yes, okay, and he has the powerto veto.
Okay though, and so just kindof wipe out more or less wipe
out everything that we just didfor the last three years so yeah
, um, and it's one person, it'sone vote.
So like versus the legislator,where's legislature where it's
like, well, if this one persondoesn't's one vote, so like

(51:49):
versus the legislature, whereit's like, well, if this one
person doesn't want to vote forit, that's fine, we can get
other votes.
In this way, it's one vote atthis point.
So it's like if he doesn't wantit, then it doesn't happen.
And I don't think that that wasever actually the case for him.
I don't think that he was everlike I'm reconsidering it.
I just think that someone likekind of put a flag on it for him

(52:12):
and he was like okay, well, letme.
I need to look at this a bitfurther.
Whereas before he's kind ofbriefed on the bills, you know
he's, his staff informs, I think, a lot of like what, what
happens, and it's a bit of ateam effort.
And I think that's why we weregetting information initially

(52:33):
that his staff was like this issomething he's likely to support
expanding access to health care.
Of course, this is in line withhis values and all of that.
And then his office wentessentially radio silent for the
next week and we didn't hearany updates, even though we were
asking updates, even though wewere asking and in the meantime

(52:55):
we were garnering a lot oftrying to garner a lot of
support across the country tohave folks call in and email
into the governor's office,which you probably remember
seeing all those posts like callthe governor call the governor
email the governor and I thinkhe just probably got tired of
him and his office probably gottired of hearing from both sides
so much.
I think he just probably gottired of him in his office,

(53:16):
probably got tired of hearingfrom both sides so much I think
he had to go radio silent tojust block it all out and say
let me focus on the bill, let mefocus on the facts.
And then the night before hesigned the bill which was his
very last day signing any billthat session, oh gosh, and he's

(53:39):
not running for reelection, soit was his very last bill
signing ever the night before wegot a phone call it's on the
agenda for tomorrow, wow.
So I hopped a plane for Seattle.
I wanted to be there, me and myfamily, even though I had just
given birth four days or fivedays previous.

Speaker 2 (53:55):
Five days before.
Yeah, I was seeing this all godown on Instagram.
I'm like this woman, sarah.
I could not believe what youhad just endured while having a
baby.
You didn't know if he was goingto sign it or not right while
you were delivering this baby.
It was all just so up in theair no, yes, out right while you
were like delivering this baby.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
It was all just up in the air.
No, I, yes, I was, and I will.
You know, it was so intertwinedboth I call them both of my
babies yeah, the bill and mydaughter.
They were so intertwined that,like even during labor, I was
like having thinking about thisstupid bill.
I was like this is insane.
Why am I thinking about thisright now?

(54:36):
But, yeah, the bill baby wasborn five days later and so I
got to be there for the signing.
And so cool as a mom to haveboth of my kids there, but
especially my daughter there,you know, holding her and
getting to one day tell herabout what, you know, a strong

(54:57):
women can do in the world andthe impact that we can have.
That was like the best week ofmy life, so far.
It was going to be a hard oneto talk.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Wow, amazing.
I have so many more questionsfor you, but in the interest of
time, maybe a couple more,because I do think people are
going to hear your story andthink, okay, well, I want my
home state to open or I want tohave this opportunity to move X,
y, z, and I just never thoughtit's possible.
But now I think maybe it'spossible.
So I think there's kind of twogroups of people.

(55:32):
The first is a CAA or an SAAwho knows they want to open a
new state and they have thatpassion and drive and maybe it's
their home state.
What is their first step totake?

Speaker 1 (55:57):
become a member of the Quad A.
I am ashamed to admit, but Ithink it's important for people
to know that after a coupleyears of working full time and
you know, I was a Quad A memberright out of school but I let my
membership lapse and especiallythen going PRN, where I didn't
have my group paying forprofessional memberships, I
wasn't a member anymore for along time.

(56:17):
And it wasn't until theyapproached me to start the
Academy that they were like, bythe way, you need to be a Quad A
member to do this.
And I was like I was like, oh,of course, like happy to, you
know.
But that's even how I gotre-involved with the Quad A and
now I'm also the subcommitteechair on the Quad A and so I'm

(57:01):
interested, I'm from the state,I have connections in the state,
you know.
Express your desire, becausethere may be someone from the
state society in that state alsocontacting Quad A, saying, hey,
I'm in this state and I want todo it, and we can, you know,
join forces and start to createa little army of people who are

(57:24):
motivated to get this done.
So that would be the first step.

Speaker 2 (57:30):
Awesome, beautiful.
Everyone's taking that andgoing now.
The second group of people Iwould love for you to speak
directly to are those maybe thatI fall into, where I'm
enthusiastic about theprofession spreading, but I
don't know that I have thepassion or the desire to open up
a whole new state.
It's not a personal investmentfor me at this time in my life.
How can I, or those people,make a difference?

Speaker 1 (57:55):
There's two big buckets of the ways that you can
be involved.
One is with your time, even ifit's just a little bit of time,
and one is with your money.
So I'll start with the moneypiece.
First.
Donating to the legislativefund for Quad A or donating
directly to a state academy thatyou feel personally interested

(58:16):
in is profoundly important anduseful the lobbyists that I
mentioned.
Pretty much all of our fundingcomes from the Quad A
legislative fund to hire her.
And then we have a little bitthat comes in from people
donating directly to theWashington Academy, but every

(58:36):
penny that we receive goestoward the lobbyist.
So, donating your money ifyou're like, hey, I can't even
be bothered to write an email orphone call at this point,
totally get it, give some money.
That would be great.
The second, and what I foundreally to be so crucial, was

(58:58):
when you see a post or when yousee an email come from Quad A
about we need you to sign thisform, we need you to email, we
need you to call.
Those take like very littletime five minutes or less
usually and are so helpful.
So if you see those types ofopportunities, even if you feel

(59:21):
again, if you feel like I don'tknow what to say.
In an email, you can usually asksomeone or you can just I will
just tell you.
It's usually just about sharingyour story.
My name is so-and-so, this iswhere I live.
I'm an AA.
Please vote yes for this billto expand healthcare in this
state.
You know that it's a reallysimple and easy message, and so

(59:45):
anytime you see the opportunityto do that, I will just say
personally, that type ofresponse helped me so much when
I'm all the way out here on thisside of the country and I feel
really disconnected at timesfrom the larger AA community, to
know that I could put a postout there or have Quade send out
an email and that there wouldbe a large response from people

(01:00:07):
actually following through with.
This was everything, and weneeded that, because there are a
thousand CRNAs in Washingtonstate and for every CRNA in the
state they have family, theyhave friends that they can reach
out to, that are constituentscalling in, and so we needed to
show like we may not be inWashington state yet, but we're

(01:00:28):
out here and you know we careabout what's going on too, and
we would love the opportunity tocome and work in that state and
have our tax dollars in thatstate and have our families in
that state and plant roots there, and so that type of
opportunity, when you see itcome along, it's really easy to

(01:00:48):
do.
Super low commitment.
It means the world to thepeople who have the boots on the
ground doing the work and itgoes a long way with legislators
as well.

Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
So good, yes, yes, yes.
That's everything I was hopingyou would say, and I just want
to reiterate a theme that's comeup just from me talking to
people who I'm like whoa, I'mtalking to Sarah, who passed the
CAA bill in Washington.
I'm talking to the Quad Apresident to really see, it is

(01:01:18):
by you, sarah, sitting inWashington attempting to pass
this bill, that my email comingfrom Kansas City, missouri, hits
you.
You see it and you're like okay, people care.
And okay, this $50 came in andI'm going to use that now to pay
the lobbyists this month, whichis the only way that this is
going happen.
Like that gets in my brain,like, oh, this is only one step
away from me.
This is not a hundred circlesaway from me where people are

(01:01:41):
doing this.
This is just one small step andI can really make a difference.
It's inspiring as a CAA to knowthat one person can make such a
huge difference, and it alsocan feel pretty daunting and I
think holding both those truthsis sort of you know the beauty
of being a CAA right now.

Speaker 1 (01:01:59):
So it's just a CAA who is choosing to do something,
or or who is choosing not to.
So that's the only difference.
It doesn't.
There's no super heroes.
There's no someone who's morequalified or less qualified.
It's really just the person whodecides to show up and do it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:17):
Yes, yes, yes.
What is next on the horizon foryou, what's next in your life?
By design Sarah Well.

Speaker 1 (01:02:27):
I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to my
dream of being able to do bothjobs that I love here in the
state.
So now that the bill has beenpassed, we have entered the
licensure portion of the process.
So we're working with themedical commission right now,
the Washington Academy as wellas the WSSA, to finalize the

(01:02:51):
license that will eventually bethe license of AAs, and so
that's a lengthy process as well.
It's the government Nothing'slike extremely fast.
So we're looking at still quitea few months, up to a year out
from that being done.
That's my hope and my dream ofwhat is on the horizon for me is

(01:03:12):
to be able to practice in thisstate, to work and exciting to
share that we already havegroups in the state interested
in hiring us and I'm in contactwith those groups and working
with them to make sure that theyare ready to go when the
licenses are ready and havetheir ducks in a row and ready
to accept AAs into theirpractice Amazing.

Speaker 2 (01:03:34):
Amazing.
Well, I can't wait to catch upwith you in a year and you can
maybe help share how, after thelegislative process, comes the
licensure process, and thencomes the hospital accreditation
process, and then comes thehiring process, which are all
steps to get you where you wantto go.
And I would love to check backin in a year and just see where

(01:03:54):
everything's at.
What do I want everyone to know?
I want them to know that in theshow notes I'm going to put a
link to donate directly to theWashington Academy of
Anesthesiologists Assistance,who needs your support right now
to help them push through thatlicensure process.
Correct, that takes money.
Yes, so we're going to put thatin the show notes.
I'm going to put a link toemail Bree Siegfried, who is the

(01:04:18):
current chair of the Quad Alegislative committee.
If you are listening and you'relike I don't really care that
much about Washington, sorry,sarah, we love you, but I care
about something else, or youknow I want to do something.
You can email Bree.
And then the Quad A legislativefund is an ongoing fund that is

(01:04:38):
large and each year the statecomponent societies let's get in
the weeds to it slightly,because we're talking to CAAs,
the state component societies ofCAAs put in a request to this
legislative fund to be doled outmoney, and that money is
oftentimes used for thelobbyists and so, yeah, it all
just really matters and it's all.
You're just one step away frommaking a huge difference as a

(01:05:01):
CAA.
So I really encourage everyoneto check out those links.
I'll also put the Nevadaepisode in the show notes so
that you guys can kind of getthe ball rolling if you're sort
of interested, and to hearanother state say the same thing
a different way in theirexperience.
I just really appreciateeveryone listening.
Sarah, I appreciate you beinghere and giving me your time so

(01:05:23):
generously, and I can't wait tocheck back in in a year.
Sounds great, thank you.
I hope you loved that episodeas much as I did.
Something to really help theshow is to forward this episode
right now to another CAAcolleague or another AA student
in your life and tell them whyyou loved the episode and why

(01:05:44):
you think they would love it.
That really helps take thismessage far and wide into our
CAA community.
Of course, doing all the otherthings like following me on
Instagram at AwakendAnesthetistthat's where I show a lot more
behind the scenes.
You can join my emailnewsletter.
You'll find a link for that inthe show notes and, of course,
you can leave a rating andreview for this podcast on

(01:06:07):
whatever app you're listening tome right now.
Thank you all so much for beinghere.
This community means so much tome and I hope you're all out
there taking small steps towardsliving your own life by design.
Let's talk soon.
Yay, okay, I'm going to pressstop recording.