Early mornings call for a well-balanced breakfast, a good cup of coffee and a speech from Washburn alumni. The Washburn University Alumni Association and Foundation held its annual Wake Up With Washburn event at 7:30 a.m.Thursday, Sept. 29 in the Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center. Students, alumni and a key speaker attended this event.
Wake Up With Washburn kicked off with a well-assorted breakfast. Everyone gathered around socializing and grabbing some breakfast with choices of eggs, fruit, bacon, biscuits and gravy, potatoes and three breakfast beverages. After some socialization with peers and enjoying breakfast, the event began with the introduction of Jerry Farley, president emeritus of Washburn University, gave a speech on what he’ll miss most about Washburn. He said he will miss the opportunity to just walk around the campus enjoying the view each day. After Farley’s speech, the key speaker and Washburn alumni Ann Shelton gave her speech.
Shelton was selected to speak at this event to discuss her knowledge of changes in health care. She worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield for 30 years. Shelton mentioned many changes that affect the healthcare industry. When asked why she decided to talk at the event, Shelton gave her thoughts on the matter.
“I really appreciated being asked and I thought, like I said, it’s a little bit about giving back to the university for what they did for me,” said Shelton.
The Affordable Care Act was a major topic Shelton covered. Knowing the goals of the ACA is important to understand how the act works.
“Now, one of the many goals and objectives of the ACA was it wanted to expand access to care. It wanted to increase benefits, and it wanted to lower the costs to our consumers,” Shelton said.
Shelton wanted to emphasize that the ACA has plans that include many benefits including insurance that covers adults up to the age of 26 if they are considered dependent under their parent’s health plan. Shelton wanted to emphasize the importance of having health insurance.
“I think I saw an estimate about maybe 45,000 individuals that are still uninsured, but it’s definitely something we need to be aware of,” Shelton said.
She also covered topics such as telehealth, mental health and medicare. The speech was very insightful and gave the audience a wide variety of information to better understand recent health changes.
Wake Up With Washburn has been an annual event since 1993 and occurs four times throughout the academic school year. This event is a great way to communicate with others and get to know the community.
“It’s really a great opportunity when we can bring back alumni and showcase their, you know, careers and community service, not only to our Topeka community, but really to students, especially to see what you know, there’s out there, you know, and your years to come and your career in the future and how far you can take it,” said Susie Hoffmann, the alumni association director.
This annual event is a great way to showcase alumni, faculty, staff, students and the community. The next Wake Up With Washburn event will occur in November and to attend you can visit the Washburn University Alumni Association and Foundation webpage and purchase a ticket. Come join Washburn alumni and enjoy a well-balanced breakfast at the next Wake Up With Washburn event. This event will leave you with a full stomach and knowledge about what the key speaker discusses in their speech. See you there!
Edited by: Alijah McCracken, Simran Shrestha