10
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.            H.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________


                     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, 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

 
Page 2                                                     10
                                  H.C.R. NO.            H.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 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 continue to include educational programs on the
25   care of the dying as part of their continuing education
26   programs; and
27   
28       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the American Cancer Society and
29   the American Heart Association use a portion of their marketing
30   budgets to publicize the use of hospices and increase awareness
31   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.