In each edition, we'll feature an action, victory, campaign, or interesting tactic shared by a state advocate. Send us your updates.

One great way to help people relate on a deeper level to health care policy issues is to share the health care stories of others with them. For far too long, opponents of health reform have tried to misinform the public about health programs and the Affordable Care Act. Their goal is to drastically cut funding for Medicaid and Medicare and to thwart the implementation of the health care law. The consumer story is one of the most powerful tools that health advocates can use to cut through these falsehoods, improve rapid response in the media, and strengthen public education efforts.

Experts at the Herndon Alliance and the Goodman Center urge advocates to use consumer stories to help broad audiences understand and relate to complex issues. A compelling story can give life to proposed budget cuts or emphasize the importance of new consumer protections in ways that cannot be communicated by health policy experts and data alone. And consumer stories are often poignant and therefore more memorable.

As important and powerful as sharing consumer stories can be, it is also time consuming and challenging work. For advocates who already manage full schedules with numerous responsibilities, story banking can seem like a daunting task. In an effort to assist advocacy groups that have limited time and resources, we asked experienced state-based advocates to share their best practices for story banking—from building the infrastructure in their organization and finding consumers to share their stories, to publicizing the
stories, and much more.

Build an Effective Infrastructure

The first step to building an effective story bank is to develop an infrastructure that allows your organization to seamlessly collect stories, work with consumers, and coordinate story distribution. Based on our interviews, creating a system that is consistent with organizational strengths and overall goals might be the most challenging aspect of this work.

Collect the Best Consumer Stories

To develop a solid story bank, experts find it is important to entrench themselves in the community. Advocates have employed a variety of tactics to gather stories, from starting a helpline to building strong partnerships to reach new audiences. Whatever the strategy, it is critical that the work be done on an ongoing basis and that it feed into all areas of work.

Use Story Banking to Find Health Care Leaders

Advocates can use the story bank to locate consumers who are interested in becoming health care leaders. When consumers are given skills, training, and guidance, they feel empowered to pursue leadership roles within the health care justice movement.

Think Broadly to Distribute Your Stories

To make the hard work of story banking worthwhile, advocates should think outside of the box when it comes to distributing stories. Consumer stories can be used in public education efforts, media work, meetings with elected officials, and much more.

Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Beat of the Month: Enjoy this month’s featured theme song of the Beat! 

Brandi  Carlile, The Story

Advocate Tip: Download the North Carolina Justice Center’s “Video Training Manual for Advocacy Organizations”!

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