AARP Wyoming Says Thank you To Longtime Lobbyist

AARP Wyoming honored Mary Lynne Shickich of Casper with its 2019 Advocacy Award during its 2019 Volunteer Recognition Awards Dinner in Sheridan on Nov. 14.

The 2018 Legislative Session may go down as one of the most successful in recent years. AARP Wyoming lobbied successfully on issues such as increased funding for the state’s senior centers, prohibition on gag orders for pharmacists by Pharmacy Benefit Managers, and addition cash for home health services and other community supports.

At the heart of it all was Mary Lynne Shickich, who has acted as the organization’s contract lobbyist over the past six years. Schichick ranks among the more respected in the Capitol and has helped AARP Wyoming pass bills such as the CARE Act, allowing patients to name a caregiver, who is then entitled to direct caregiving and discharge instructions from providers around such subjects as medication administration and facility transfers.

For her work on those and countless other issues on behalf of Wyomingites 50 and over, Shickich is being honored with AARP Wyoming’s Advocacy Award for 2019.

In addition to her work with AARP Wyoming, Shickich serves as the lead of Shickich Strategies, a Wyoming government affairs firm with a focus on state and federal legislative and regulatory issues. Prior to starting her own government and public affairs business in 2013, she served as the Vice President of External Affairs, Community Relations and the Hospital Foundation at the Wyoming Medical Center in Casper. Schickich earned a Masters in Policy, and her master’s thesis paper was on the Older American’s Act, evaluating the successes of the congregate meals site funding for seniors.