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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.R. NO.              H.D. 1
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, some healthcare professional schools
28   have concentrated on their healing and rehabilitative roles
29   rather than their roles as providers of care to the dying; and
30   
31       WHEREAS, while hospices have effectively provided care to
32   the dying, they have consistently been underfunded and remain
33   relatively unknown; and
34   
35       WHEREAS, public education and the education of healthcare
36   professionals are keys to improving care to those who are
37   severely ill and dying; and

 
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                                  H.R. NO.              H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 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 engage in extensive public service
10   campaigns to improve public awareness of the need for planning
11   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 continue to include educational programs on the
21   care of the dying as part of their continuing education
22   programs; and
23   
24       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the American Cancer Society and
25   the American Heart Association use a portion of their marketing
26   budgets to publicize the use of hospices and increase awareness
27   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.