HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.R. NO.13            
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE RESOLUTION

URGING MORE PUBLIC EDUCATION ABOUT CHOICES AVAILABLE TO THOSE WHO
   ARE SEVERELY ILL, AND URGING THE INCLUSION OF CARE OF THE
   DYING IN THE EDUCATION OF HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS.



 1       WHEREAS, the public is largely unaware of the many ways
 2   that a person may die with dignity, and that there are choices
 3   to be made when they become severely ill, including accepting
 4   death as inevitable; and
 5   
 6       WHEREAS, the lack of public awareness about the issues
 7   related to dying has many reasons, and one of these reasons is
 8   that death tends to be ignored since it is a difficult subject
 9   to broach; and
10   
11       WHEREAS, another reason is that the cultural diversity of
12   our community results in differing attitudes and approaches to
13   death, making a unified message difficult; and
14   
15       WHEREAS, in addition, health agencies such as the American
16   Cancer Society and the American Heart Association direct their
17   health education programs toward the benefit of early diagnosis
18   and aggressive treatment of life threatening diseases, ignoring
19   death as a frequent consequence of illness, thereby
20   contributing to unreasonable expectations of the use of medical
21   care; and
22   
23       WHEREAS, moreover, healthcare providers have made only
24   minimal efforts in their institutional marketing campaigns to
25   educate the public about death; and
26   
27       WHEREAS, furthermore, healthcare professional schools have
28   concentrated on their healing and rehabilitative roles,
29   virtually ignoring their roles as providers of care to the
30   dying; and
31   
32       WHEREAS, while hospices have effectively provided care to
33   the dying, they are the only institutions to do so, and they
34   have consistently been underfunded and remain relatively
35   unknown; and

 
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 1       WHEREAS, public education and the education of healthcare
 2   professionals are keys to improving care to those who are
 3   severely ill and dying; and
 4   
 5       WHEREAS, the Governor's Blue Ribbon Panel on Living and
 6   Dying with Dignity has unanimously recommended, among other
 7   things, that public healthcare professional education programs
 8   be designed and implemented to increase awareness of the
 9   choices available to the dying; now, therefore,
10   
11       BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
12   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
13   of 1999, the Senate concurring, that the media engage in
14   extensive public service campaigns to improve public awareness
15   of the need for planning for a dignified death; and
16   
17       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that care of the dying be an 
18   integral part of the education of healthcare professionals, and
19   that this effort be facilitated by a task force that includes
20   representation of all healthcare professional schools in
21   Hawaii; and
22   
23       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that societies of healthcare
24   professionals include educational programs on the care of the
25   dying as part of their continuing education programs; and
26   
27       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the American Cancer Society and
28   the American Heart Association utilize a portion of their
29   marketing budgets to publicize the use of hospices and increase
30   awareness of the inevitability of death; and
31   
32       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
33   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Hawaii affiliates
34   of the American Cancer Society, the Hawaii affiliate of the
35   American Heart Association, the Hawaii Medical Association, the
36   Hawaii Nurses Association, the President of the University of
37   Hawaii, and the President of Hawaii Pacific University.
38   
39 
40 
41 
42                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________

 
 
 
 
 
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