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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.            H.D. 2
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE CONCURRENT
                        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

 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.            H.D. 2
                                                        
                                                        

 
 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 is urged to
14   engage in extensive public service campaigns to improve public
15   awareness 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 are urged to continue to include educational
25   programs on the care of the dying as part of their continuing
26   education programs; and
27   
28       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the American Cancer Society and
29   the American Heart Association are urged to use a portion of
30   their marketing budgets to publicize the use of hospices and
31   increase awareness of the inevitability of death; and
32   
33       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
34   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Hawaii affiliates
35   of the American Cancer Society, the Hawaii affiliate of the
36   American Heart Association, the Hawaii Medical Association, the
37   Hawaii Nurses Association, the President of the University of
38   Hawaii, and the President of Hawaii Pacific University.