The Healthcare Action Institute trains participants in storytelling, advocacy, and healthcare policy in Illinois. It features bi-weekly virtual sessions covering skills like media engagement, legislative testimony, and digital organizing, along with ongoing mentorship to support long-term leadership development.
Lived Experience in Action
Advocate Stories From Across Illinois
Cohort members are putting their training into practice — publishing letters to the editor and sharing their stories in outlets across Illinois.
After losing her job and health insurance, Medicaid gave Sonya access to the care that saved her life after she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
For Lequita, Medicare has meant peace of mind through chronic illness, disability and an unexpected emergency.
After struggling with depression and navigating a complicated healthcare system, Aaron found himself fighting for the medical equipment he needed just to breathe safely at night.
After giving birth to her son, Lissett knew something was wrong. Medicaid helped her access the doctors, testing, and lifesaving treatment she needed to uncover a Lyme disease diagnosis and return home to her newborn.
Growing up in an immigrant family, Luis saw firsthand how difficult it could be to access healthcare, even when coverage was available.
After a cornea transplant, Michael faced a nearly $500 price tag for medication needed to protect their vision. His experience is a reminder that lowering prescription drug costs is essential to making healthcare truly accessible.
For Allison, Medicaid has been a lifeline at every stage of her life—from helping her safely give birth to her children to covering lifesaving surgery and ongoing care for Long COVID.
When a loved one is fighting cancer, access to consistent medical care can mean everything. HBIA gave one undocumented Illinoisan access to cancer treatment, specialists, and preventive care—but after the program ended, Angela's family was left navigating charity care, long delays, and uncertainty.
After running out of insulin because Tor couldn't afford both medication and basic necessities, one Illinois resident woke up on their living room floor with a dangerously high blood sugar level.
How the Institute works
Participants learn to turn their personal healthcare experiences into compelling advocacy narratives that move decision-makers to act.
Understand how power operates in healthcare — who makes decisions, who holds influence, and how advocates can shift both.
Hands-on training in lobbying, media, digital organizing, and coalition-building — the practical tools for fighting and winning.
Cohort members build lasting relationships with advocates across Illinois, from Chicago to Carbondale.
Graduates join a growing alumni network and stay connected to Citizen Action's statewide healthcare campaigns.
Our advocates
From Rockford to Carbondale, from the suburbs to the city — cohort members are turning lived experience into leadership.
Follow the work our
advocates are doing.
Stay connected for community updates, event invitations, and powerful stories of impact straight from our leadership cohort.