Washington State Medical Association Names Senator Annette Cleveland 2024 Legislator of the Year

State senator representing Washington’s 48th Legislative District honored for her partnership with the physician community.

SEATTLE, WA, UNITED STATES, October 1, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Sen. Annette Cleveland, D-Vancouver, was named 2024 Legislator of the Year by the Washington State Medical Association during the 2024 Annual Meeting of the WSMA House of Delegates at the Historic Davenport in Spokane on Saturday, Sept. 28.

Each year, the WSMA, representing physicians, resident physicians, physician assistants, and medical students statewide, honors a legislator whose partnership and influence help to make Washington one of the best states in the nation to practice medicine and receive care.

The centenarian association honored Sen. Cleveland for her leadership as chair of the Senate Health and Long Term Care Committee and her dedication to ensuring meaningful health care policy for our state’s patients and physicians.

• She is the prime champion in the Senate of WSMA priority legislation to establish confidentiality protections for physician wellness programs, which aim to increase participation in these programs to help mitigate career fatigue and improve overall well-being and job satisfaction among physicians. The WSMA looks forward to continuing its partnership with Sen. Cleveland on the bill during the 2025 legislative session.
• Sen. Cleveland is a staunch advocate of promoting access to vaccines, sponsoring Senate Bill 5982 this past legislative session to update the definition of vaccine in state statute to allow for the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine and other immunizations to be included in the Washington Childhood Vaccine Program. In 2019, she worked to remove the personal or philosophical exemption for the MMR vaccine for school-aged children (Senate Bill 5841).
• Sen. Cleveland knows the importance of ensuring access to care, including abortion services. In 2023, she sponsored legislation to eliminate out-of-pocket costs for patients receiving abortion care (Senate Bill 5242).
• The WSMA helped establish the state’s Maternal Mortality Review Panel to review maternal deaths in the state and make recommendations to prevent future maternal deaths. In 2019, Sen. Cleveland sponsored legislation to make the panel permanent (Senate Bill 5425).

“Sen. Cleveland has been a consistent partner to the physician community whose door has remained open to us throughout the year,” said John Bramhall, MD, PhD, WSMA president. “With more than seven sessions as chair of the top Senate health committee, she is a leader in health policy in our state and is more than deserving of WSMA’s top honor for our legislative partners. We are grateful for her being a champion of medicine and are proud to name her our 2024 Legislator of the Year.”

“It’s an honor to receive this recognition of the hard work, trust, and partnership that contributes to protecting the health care of Washingtonians, and the work of physicians across the state,” said Cleveland. “By focusing on shared goals and values, we are making progress in attracting and keeping a strong health care workforce, protecting reproductive rights and privacy, and expanding access to quality care statewide. I look forward to our work together in the coming years.”

A high-resolution portrait of Sen. Cleveland is available from her website.

About the Washington State Medical Association
The Washington State Medical Association represents nearly 13,000 physicians, physician assistants, resident physicians, and medical students across all specialties and practice types in Washington state. The WSMA has advocated on behalf of the house of medicine for more than 125 years. Our vision is to make Washington state the best place to practice medicine and receive care.

Graham Short
Washington State Medical Association
+1 206-956-3633
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