Please write Washington state Senators immediately to show your support! This post forwards the requests of Washington Lyme activists and organizers (with clear and specific steps to take), including the Lyme Disease Seattle WA Support Group, Ticked Off On Lyme WA, and Dan Boeholt (Bill coauthor).

Pre-Notes For Residents/Non-Residents:

• Residents: The links below make it extremely fast and easy to find and message your Senator, whether you know who yours is or not.  Your zip code will quickly take you to the right place.  Have a 1,000 character message in mind and you are good to go!
• Non-residents: There are multiple places on the page that will take you to names of senators or options for messaging.  Although the submission form asks you to verify your district, this will not keep you from being able to send your message.  It may tell you that you are in a different district, and ask if you would like to be re-directed, but it will also give you the option of sending the message anyway.  Also, email addresses can be found on home pages, which takes more navigation.
• All Readers: The submission form is limited to 1,000 characters, so you may want to draft this and have it ready.  The goal now is to contact Senators.  House Representatives will be better to contact later, when the Bill reaches the House (check for updates on the facebook page linked above).
• Update: Senator email addresses listed at bottom of post

You can read about Dan’s 19-year road to diagnosis in this recent article, and more about the proposed bill (including past requests for support, past updates, and links to the proposed bill and where to comment) in this previous post:

Washington Proposed S.B. 5448 Would Allow Long Term Antibiotic Treatment For Lyme Disease

Following the request/challenge below are additional links and additional updates from Dan as posted on Ticked Off On Lyme WA.

I grew up in Washington state and although the tick bite that gave me Lyme and coinfections was in Montana, most of my tick bites occurred in Washington, mostly during my time as a Wildland Firefighter, and I still visit and recreate frequently.  I also have many family and friends in Washington and would like to hope that appropriate care would be available to them if needed.  My letter so far is also included at the end of this post, which I plan to adapt for emails and short comments as needed.

Continue to watch for updates at Ticked Off On Lyme WA’s facebook page.

Most Recent Request ~ FEBRUARY CHALLENGE:

(As of Feb. 13, as shared by Deb of Lyme Disease Eugene Oregon, with a similar version on Ticked Off On Lyme WA)

It’s time to make this personal. I want to see everyone write to WA Senators and show your support! If you visit WA on vacation let them know you want all visitors to be safe too.

Please Support Lyme Bill #5448 RECOGNIZING CHRONIC LYME & PROTECTING THE DOCTORS THAT TREAT IT. Ok Folks…Here’s our rally ROAR! We don’t want to sound like a broken record… BUT…the time is drawing near! FEBRUARY 20th IS THE DEADLINE to have your comments on the bill 5448 submitted to senator and committee!!! EVERYONE NEEDS TO COMMENT ON THE BILLS! Follow the provided links. Follow Step by Step below:

#1. To submit comments to the committee on Bill 5448 this was the original link that we asked you to comment on and share a few weeks ago.
If you have already done that in person at the hearing or online proceed to step 2. If not follow the link below and submit your comments to the committee, 1000 character limit (about a paragraph.)
https://app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/5448

#2. Find your Senator: Visit the link below, enter your address to find your senator, your local senator and reps will pop up, click on the senator link, this will take you to a new page, find your senators picture/name, underneath will be an email link, click that, submit your comments and bill # 5448. 1000 character limit (about a paragraph.)
http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/

#3. Next go back to the senator link and click on their homepage. Here you will have an option to email them. Keep it to a page explain why this bill is important to you, they have limited time and can’t read a book! If you can get to a meeting with them request a meeting in the subject line of your email asking to discuss the importance of this bill.

#4. If you can go to a meeting with your senator, request an appointment as described in step 3. If you get a meeting it will be for 15 minutes max so be prepared to present yourself quickly and efficiently. People can accompany you that aren’t in your district but it would be great to have 2 people from the same district. If you would rather not go alone ask a friend or family member to attend with you or ask someone from our group to attend with you.

We spend more time watching our favorite TV show or surfing the web than the time it will take to submit comments and write a page long letter! EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US needs to contact the committee and our senator and ask for their support on Bill # 5448 Recognizing Chronic Lyme Disease and Protecting the Doctors that treat it! You can submit the same paragraph comment to both on the bill pages. Think this will happen without you? Think again! Ask your friends and family to submit a letter/email. We need to rally every voice so that we are heard!
YOUR MEETINGS, YOUR LETTERS/EMAILS TO YOUR SENATOR CAN AND WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. It’s hard to ignore tons of personal stories and not so hard if they never know our stories. LET US STAND UP AND BE HEARD! If they don’t hear from any of us we are INVISIBLE. We need to rally: every single one of us needs to contact committee and our Senator (don’t worry about contacting your reps right now that will be our March Challenge! Upcoming Lunch Meeting end of February for next steps on supporting this important bill, contact for details!

Thank you for your participation and support! Best Regards, Lyme Disease Seattle Wa Support Group LymeDiseaseSeattleWa@gmail.com (206) 486-0146 If you would like to join our group contact us

Additional Links and Updates:

Posted Feb. 13, Event Page

Please join us for the next steps in supporting Bill #5448 Recognizing Chronic Lyme Disease and Protecting the Doctors That Treat It. Every voice is needed!

Chronic Lyme Bill: The Next Steps, One Tick at a Time with Dan Boeholt

Posted Feb. 11

“Houston we have a problem” ~ Our Lyme Bill SB 5448 Passes out of Senate Health Committee as Amended ~ Calls for a study on long term use of Antibiotics and their effects on Lyme Disease with a Report to the Governors office and Legislature by Dec. 1, 2015.
~ Nothin to do with Lyme Disease is easy….We have a Plan of Action

Senate Bill Report

Posted Feb. 7

~ The Future Life of Our Lyme Bill SB 5448 ~
– Needs to be Passed out of the Senate Health Care Committee by Feb. 20th. ~ Being told by Chairs this IS going to happen ~
– Moves then to the Senate Floor for Debate and Vote and Needs to Pass by 1st week in March ~ All indications are Very Good !!
– Moves to the House Health Care Committee for Public Hearing in March ~ Things looking Good here too, Need Supporters there!
– Needs to pass out of Committee in March to make it to the House Floor for Debate and Passing by April or End of Session.
– Bill moves to the Governors Office ~ Needs to be signed in 30 days

My Messages (Example purposes, Contact WA groups linked to above for further information on what to write):

For full letter draft, see here

Message submitted(http://leg.wa.gov/) to Sen. Baumgartner (I am a non-resident, but began with the zip code where I grew up):

1,000 Character Message Version

Dear Senator,

I am a former Washington/district resident and professional federal biologist who contracted Lyme disease through a tick bite in the course of my fieldwork in Montana in 2010. Despite several acute symptoms and the onset of Bell’s palsy within weeks of the tick bite, I was misdiagnosed for three years. This delay in treatment meant that several months of antibiotics, combined with other therapies, were needed to begin meaningful recovery. Length of infection increases the complexity and length of effective treatment.

You can help current and future patients regain their health more effectively, with lesser costs to families and communities, by supporting this legislation.  My extended family still resides in Washington as do dozens of other friends and loved ones, almost all of whom recreate in the outdoors avidly. Please consider this information for residents and patients. They should not lose their lives to arbitrary limitations. Thank you, Angela Daenzer

Read more here

Email Message Version:

Dear Senator,

I am a former Washington resident and professional federal biologist who contracted Lyme disease through a tick bite in the course of my fieldwork in Montana in 2010. Despite several acute symptoms and the onset of Bell’s palsy within weeks of the tick bite, I was misdiagnosed for three years. This delay in treatment meant that several months of antibiotics, combined with other therapies, were needed to begin meaningful recovery. Length of infection increases the complexity and length of effective treatment.

Patients don’t have to lose their ability to function as people, parents, or productive members of society. Doctors need the education and procedural freedom to properly diagnose and treat patients, understanding (based on copious peer reviewed evidence) that:

• Two-tiered testing is missing too many cases of Lyme;
• Lyme disease is a clinical diagnosis;
• Outdated information about which ticks carry Lyme (and where they occur) erroneously limits consideration of Lyme during diagnosis;
• Many (possibly most) patients do not exhibit or notice a visible rash;
• Transmission from tick to human does not required 36-48 hours;
• Not all patients recall being bitten or by which vector species.

These factors contribute to prolonged diagnosis time-frames, increase duration of illness, and reduce the effectiveness of short term antibiotics (which may have been effective during acute infection).

You can help current and future patients regain their health more effectively, with lesser costs to families and communities, by supporting this legislation.  My extended family still resides in Washington as do dozens of other friends and loved ones, almost all of whom recreate in the outdoors avidly. Please consider this information for residents and patients. They should not lose their lives to arbitrary limitations.

Thank you,

Angela Daenzer

Full Email List From Kristine Moden:

jan.angel@leg.wa.gov,  barbara.bailey@leg.wa.gov,  michael.baumgartner@leg.wa.gov, randi.becker@leg.wa.gov, don.benton@leg.wa.gov, andy.billig@leg.wa.gov, john.braun@leg.wa.gov, sharon.brown@leg.wa.gov, maralyn.chase@leg.wa.gov, annette.cleveland@leg.wa.gov, steve.conway@leg.wa.gov, bruce.dammeier@leg.wa.gov, brian.dansel@leg.wa.gov, j.darneille@leg.wa.gov, doug.ericksen@leg.wa.gov, joe.fain@leg.wa.gov, karen.fraser@leg.wa.gov, david.frockt@leg.wa.gov, cyrus.habib@leg.wa.gov, jim.hargrove@leg.wa.gov, bob.hasegawa@leg.wa.gov, brian.hatfield@leg.wa.gov, mike.hewitt@leg.wa.gov, andy.hill@leg.wa.gov, steve.hobbs@leg.wa.gov, jim.honeyford@leg.wa.gov, pramila.jayapal@leg.wa.gov, karen.keiser@leg.wa.gov, curtis.king@leg.wa.gov, jeanne.kohl-welles@leg.wa.gov, marko.liias@leg.wa.gov, steve.litzow@leg.wa.gov, rosemary.mcauliffe@leg.wa.gov, john.mccoy@leg.wa.gov, mark.miloscia@leg.wa.gov, mark.mullet@leg.wa.gov, sharon.nelson@leg.wa.gov, steve.o’ban@leg.wa.gov, mike.padden@leg.wa.gov, linda.parlette@leg.wa.gov, kirk.pearson@leg.wa.gov, jamie.pedersen@leg.wa.gov, kevin.ranker@leg.wa.gov, ann.rivers@leg.wa.gov, pam.roach@leg.wa.gov, christine.rolfes@leg.wa.gov, mark.schoesler@leg.wa.gov, timothy.sheldon@leg.wa.gov, judy.warnick@leg.wa.gov