On March 13, 2013 I had the opportunity to participate in an ADAPT action held in Albany, NY.  I was excited particularly for this adventure because I had never been to Albany before.  I must say I was impressed with the organization presented by the group leaders I observed while waiting for the bus to be loaded.  This organization was the quickness of checking to see if all were present and accounted for, checking all medicine people would need throughout the day, and all other steps necessary to begin our travel.
The bus was full of both ADAPT veterans and people new to ADAPT as well.  I felt both excited for the journey ahead, but nervous to what would happen throughout the day while at the capitol.  When we arrived at the Nelson Rockefeller Plaza, I was unsure of where to go so for a majority of the rest of our time there I followed the crowd.  At one point I felt like I was in a large mall and when I was told it was the headquarters of our state government, I certainly was surprised.

After we met up at MacDonald’s for lunch the adventures began.  We all traveled through the metal detector and then proceeded upstairs to the Senator Chamber and offices.  When we arrived on the right floor and near the correct office, I was given instructions of where to stand if a senator came out of the chamber. Shortly after we were in position, one Senator came out of the door directly next to me and he was stopped by one of our group leaders who gave him a flyer.  He stated he was familiar with the situation and would vote in favor of our cause.  The acoustics for this building were rather bad so it was hard to hear things in specific areas.

We stood in this location for awhile and when Chris Hilderbrant announced the meeting was positive I thought “that was rather easy.”  We then moved to what they called the “War Room” which was like a waiting area outside the Governor’s office.  We had 5 members of our group go into meet with the Cabinet Advisor for Health and their colleagues while the rest stayed in the lobby area.  The acoustics in this area were very bad so others had to repeat things to me.  While we were waiting for the results of the meeting, we began to chant/sing and a stranger out of nowhere came up who made attempts to quiet our group.  I thought it was both random and rather rude of this person to quiet a large group who she had no association with.  To me it seemed rather puzzling, but this person must have thought they were doing something productive that was viewed as counterproductive.

When our representatives came out of the meeting, Chris once again announced the Health Advisor agreed to support our requests and I still thought “pretty easy.”  This was followed by the Advisor for Health giving a message to the group at large.  In his address he mentioned how our group has a reputation of advocating hard on issues which are important to us which I still think it was cool the state officials recognize us for this skill.

At the end of the trip, I was both surprised and tired.  I went in thinking it would be protesting and arrests would occur in the event these officials would not listen to our requests.  Fortunately though, all it took for our mission to be accomplished was to have meetings with the necessary state officials and laying out our views of the situation.  I hope to go on future ADAPT trips and be apart of the policy making.  To know by extension you have a hand in determining the state’s view on a subject as important as budget cuts is very empowering and fun to fight for!