[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 62 (Thursday, April 29, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E709-E710]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           SARAH STARNES NAMED SOCIAL WORK LEADER OF THE YEAR

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 29, 2010

  Mr. MOORE of Kansas. Madam Speaker, I am pleased to bring to the 
House's attention today the recent award of ``Social Work Leader of the 
Year'' by the Missouri-Kansas Chapter of the Society for Leadership in 
Health Care to Sarah Starnes, of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
  Sarah Starnes received a M.S.W. from the University of Kansas in 1977 
and went on to receive a M.P.A. in 1984 from the same institution. 
After working with the Missouri Division of Family Services, the 
University of Kansas Upward Bound Program, Project New Pride/Kansas 
Youth Trust Upward Bound, and Transitional Living Consortium, she has 
spent the last nineteen years serving the interests of our veterans at 
the Kansas City VA Medical Center, where she works with them on a daily 
basis, doing casework, group work program administration, and community 
organization.
  Active in politics during her free time, Sarah represents the best of 
comprehensive social work practice. As the NASW Code of Ethics states: 
``Social Workers should facilitate informed participation by the public 
in shaping social policies and institutions. Social workers should 
engage in social and political action that seeks to ensure that all 
people have equal access to the resources, employment, services, and 
opportunities they require to meet their basic human needs and to 
develop fully. Social workers should be aware of the impact of the 
political arena on practice and should advocate for changes in policy 
and legislation to improve social conditions in order to meet basic 
human needs and promote social justice.''

[[Page E710]]

  Sarah Starnes' career has exemplified these principles. I am pleased 
to have this opportunity to publicly recognize her award and am happy 
to have the opportunity to place in the Record her remarks upon 
accepting this award on March 23rd:

       Good afternoon. Thank you so much for this most incredible 
     honor of my lifetime.
       This award really goes to all the people who have worked so 
     hard to achieve this victory on the most significant piece of 
     domestic legislation since the Medicare law was passed in 
     1965.
       ``This is why we elected Barack Obama . . . it used to be 
     that we'd elect a president and then the lobbyists would 
     determine what happened. This time it is going to be US who 
     determine what happens.''
       But, I must admit, I had been concerned in recent weeks 
     that I'd be standing before you today saying, ``We gave it a 
     good fight, and the fight goes on. . . .''
       Then, remarkably, two days ago we had a historic moment in 
     the life of our democracy, when the majority of our lawmakers 
     determined that life is more important than profits; that 
     health care is a right and not a privilege to be enjoyed only 
     by the healthy and the wealthy. They did this because we 
     helped them appreciate that this was the morally right and 
     fiscally responsible thing to do.
       I want to dedicate this award to Dean Goering, the brother 
     of my KU undergrad roommate, Susan Goering. Dean was a social 
     worker-to-be, who lived in Midtown Kansas City. Dean received 
     a B.A. in Social Work from Univ. of Central Missouri in 2009, 
     and was starting the MSW program at UMKC. Dean volunteered at 
     the Kansas City Free Health Clinic. He hoped to work with 
     Veterans who have PTSD. But Dean will NOT touch countless 
     lives as a social worker, due to one of the unconscionable 
     practices of the health insurance industry. Dean had a blood 
     clot in his leg about 10 years ago, so, when he recently 
     started having symptoms like shortness of breath, he reviewed 
     his health insurance policy, and concluded that it would not 
     cover another hospitalization for what he assumed was the 
     same condition, and he tried to tough it out. Dean died at 
     age 50 of a Pulmonary Embolism, on February 21, 2010. For 
     Dean and 45,000 other Americans each year, ``health care for 
     all Americans'' was not just a slogan. It was an unfulfilled 
     life wish. For Dean, the health care delivery system in this 
     country was a death sentence. Thank God, many of these health 
     insurance abuses will end, with the Patient Protection and 
     Affordable Care Act passed Sunday in the House of 
     Representatives.
       My journey for this health care cause has been going on for 
     awhile, as has the journey of our entire Nation.
       I was blessed to find ``my calling'' early in my life. I 
     have worked in social services continuously and full-time 
     since 1973. I received my MSW from the University of Kansas 
     in 1977, and an MPA from KU in 1984.
       I have been passionate about my work with the people in all 
     the groups with which I have practiced.
       Let me explain, before I go on, that I am here on my own 
     time, representing myself, not my employer. The VA does 
     provide The Best Care Anywhere and is an extremely effective 
     government-run health care system, but I'm not here 
     representing the VA, only myself, and my advocacy for health 
     care reform was done outside my job.
       Another note of explanation--my remarks will be about my 
     work with one specific American political party, but, if you 
     find that you can honor the Social Work Code of Ethics and 
     your personal values via your work with another party, 
     please, go for it!
       Okay, so I have voted in every election for which I have 
     been eligible to vote, and have written an occasional letter 
     to an elected official or the editor.
       Then, in 2007, my life took on a new and invigorating 
     avocation.
       In 2006, I'd read an autobiography written by a man whose 
     maternal grandparents were from El Dorado, KS, and Augusta, 
     KS, where my dad had leased a rock quarry when I was a girl. 
     The author had been a community organizer in Chicago, and he 
     later went to law school and then got into politics, to 
     influence change on a broader scale. His values seemed to be 
     totally consistent with social work values.
       In February 2007, this community organizer announced that 
     he was going to run for President of the United States.
       Now, regarding Social Work values and politics, please 
     refer back to the NASW Social Work Code of Ethics.
       The code says that ``social workers should promote social 
     justice and social change . . . and should engage in social 
     and political action that seeks to ensure that all people 
     have equal access to the resources, services, and 
     opportunities they require to meet their basic human needs 
     and to develop fully.''
       Until recently, I had viewed politics as a necessarily 
     dirty, self-serving business. But, in the last few years I've 
     started paying closer attention to the fact that everything I 
     try to accomplish in my work, with my family, and in my own 
     life, is affected by the laws and ordinances made at all 
     levels of government, and the resulting regulations and 
     policies. I started more actively wondering how these laws 
     could be affected, to benefit those who the Social Work Code 
     of Ethics calls ``vulnerable.''
       I gained a heightened awareness that, in our representative 
     democracy, public policy is accomplished through the people 
     we elect to hold public office. And I decided that it is my 
     obligation to do what I could to elect people who will 
     represent the interests of the powerless, and everyday 
     people, at all levels of governance.
       One person cannot do it alone. We must each duplicate 
     ourselves. For example, perhaps I can make 50 calls in 2 or 3 
     hours, but, if I find 5 other callers, we can make 250 calls 
     in the same time period. Or maybe I can register 50 voters in 
     an afternoon or a day, but, if I can enlist 10 other 
     volunteers to register voters, we multiply the results by 10. 
     I can only vote once in each election, but, ideally, I can 
     play a role in THOUSANDS of other people voting.
       This monumental health care legislation was not 
     accomplished in the last year. Americans and our leaders have 
     been yearning and working for universal health care for over 
     a hundred years--7 Presidents and 7 Congresses have aspired 
     to achieve this moral imperative.
       It took our faith in Barack Obama and his leadership for us 
     to realize that it was up to US to change the way things, 
     including the provision of health care, are done in this 
     country. And the objective reality is that it also took a 
     Democratic majority in the Congress to achieve these reforms.
       I have learned through the process of achieving this major 
     legislation that we cannot wait on our elected officials to 
     determine our destinies, essentially throwing them out at the 
     next election if we decide we don't like them, after their 
     damage has been done.
       Nothing happens unless we take individual responsibility 
     for change. We know that we simply cannot wait for someone 
     else to fix things.
       Sometimes, when we feel the most defeated and alone, if we 
     just keep putting one foot in front of the other, even when 
     we are tired and discouraged and don't think we can go on, we 
     can achieve amazing results.
       If for some reason you are unable to engage in partisan 
     political activities, there are nonpartisan organizations 
     with which you can be involved, to accomplish similar ends . 
     . . these organizations don't ``lobby,'' they ``advocate. . . 
     .''
       I am issuing a call to all social workers present--consider 
     how you will make a difference--consider running for 
     political office, or helping someone who is running or 
     thinking about it. Hold our elected officials accountable. 
     Let them know what you think, and encourage others to do so. 
     Educate people about the truth regarding the needs of the 
     American people and how those needs might be effectively 
     addressed.
       In addition to the people who have worked so passionately 
     for HC reform, I want to thank God for my health, and for my 
     husband, Kelvin Walls, and my son, Kel, for their work and 
     support. Kelvin motivated his doctor friends to speak out on 
     behalf of their patients and potential patients. Kel put up 
     with ``all those people I don't know being in our house all 
     the time'' for phone banks and health care reform events. 
     They have both sacrificed a lot. During the 2008 election, 
     they canvassed with me in five states.
       I became a social worker and political activist out of my 
     core believe that the arc of the moral universe bends in the 
     direction of justice, hope and compassion. And that I need to 
     help it along.
       In conclusion, let me say, ``We gave it a good fight. We 
     won! And the fight goes on.''

                          ____________________