Rep. Gus Michael Bilirakis (R–FL–09)

Meeting Summary

• Meeting held

Meeting Attendees:

We met with Rep. Bilirakis and his district aide, Kristen Sellas on Fri. 2/29 at 3 pm.  The meeting was supposed to be for 30 minutes, but lasted almost an hour.  In attendance were; Stephanie Scaglione, Erica Scaglione (14), Jeff Greenacre, Wendy Longley, Shayne and Chelsea Hall (17), and myself, Ralph Scaglione. We began the meeting by thanking Rep. Bilirakis for supporting the renewal of the Special Diabetes Program as part of the Medicare bill passed by Congress last year.  We went around the room giving everyone an opportunity to talk about living with juvenile diabetes.  Jeff Greenacre talked about living with juvenile diabetes as an adult and the numerous complications he has had to endure.  At one point, Rep. Bilirakis asked what more could he do to help and Jeff asked if there was anything else WE could do.  Rep. Bilirakis replied that we should do more "Promise" type meetings with families and children to keep the issues on top of legislator’s minds. Chelsea Hall (17) and her mom talked about her difficulties dealing with juvenile diabetes and issues with the insulin pump.  She also mentioned that she would like to have a career in politics.  Rep. Bilirakis said he would help her to get an internship.  Wendy Longley discussed the difficulties that her daughter, Delaney (6), had living with diabetes and the problems dealing with insurance companies.  Erica Scaglione (14) ended the meeting by singing the Mariah Carey song "Hero" to Rep. Bilirakis.  Rep. Bilirakis asked her to sing the song at an upcoming veteran’s event and told her she could talk about juvenile diabetes at the event as well.  The event will be for approx. 1,000-2,000 veterans and their families.  I covered most of the "Talking Points" from Government Day with additional statistics relating to Florida.  It was a great meeting!