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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.R. NO.              H.D. 2
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, some health agencies direct their
16   health education programs toward the benefit of early diagnosis
17   and aggressive treatment of life threatening diseases, ignoring
18   death as a frequent consequence of illness, thereby
19   contributing to unreasonable expectations of the use of medical
20   care; and
21   
22       WHEREAS, moreover, some healthcare providers have made only
23   minimal efforts in their institutional marketing campaigns to
24   educate the public about death; and
25   
26       WHEREAS, furthermore, some healthcare professional schools
27   have concentrated on their healing and rehabilitative roles
28   rather than their roles as providers of care to the dying; and
29   
30       WHEREAS, while hospices have effectively provided care to
31   the dying, they have consistently been underfunded and remain
32   relatively unknown; and
33   
34       WHEREAS, public education and the education of healthcare
35   professionals are keys to improving care to those who are
36   severely ill and dying; and

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

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