69
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES             H.C.R. NO.            
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2000                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                     HOUSE CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION
REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENTS OF HEALTH AND EDUCATION TO REINSTATE
   THE HEARING AND VISION PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN PRIOR TO THEIR
   ENTRY INTO KINDERGARTEN OR THE FIRST GRADE.



 1       WHEREAS, according to the Health Insurance Association of
 2   America, children are three times as likely as adults to have
 3   acute eye problems; and
 4   
 5       WHEREAS, vision screening and eye examinations are crucial
 6   to the detection of conditions that distort children's vision
 7   and conditions that can ultimately lead to blindness if not
 8   treated properly; and
 9   
10       WHEREAS, according to the American Optometric Association,
11   nearsightedness affects about three percent of five to 
12   nine-year-olds, eight percent of ten to twelve-year-olds and
13   sixteen percent of teenagers, and estimates that one out of
14   eight children, ages five to twelve, wears eyeglasses; and
15   
16       WHEREAS, visual stimuli are critical to the development of
17   normal vision, and decreased visual acuity may contribute to
18   inadequate school performance and more serious eye problems;
19   and
20   
21       WHEREAS, in 1998, an estimated 5,900,000 preschool children
22   in the United States had recurrent ear infections; and
23   
24       WHEREAS, the American Academy of Pediatrics concluded that
25   children are twenty times more likely to have acute ear
26   infections than adults, and persistent infections contribute
27   significantly to the increasing number of infants who develop
28   hearing loss later in life; and
29   
30       WHEREAS, in a screening conducted at Kaiser Permanente
31   Medical Center in Hawaii on more than 10,000 infants born
32   between 1992 and 1997, only 15 of the 415 infants who failed
33   the initial hearing tests and received hearing aids before six
34   months of age were identified at a follow-up test as needing
35   further intervention; and

 
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                                  H.C.R. NO.            
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1       WHEREAS, hearing aids for these children before six months
 2   of age averted the need for more costly interventions later in
 3   life, and optimized speech and language development; and
 4   
 5       WHEREAS, according to a preliminary report of a statewide
 6   program of universal newborn hearing screening published in the
 7   "International Journal of Pediatric Otorhinolarynogology", the
 8   average cost of a screening test was $25, a reasonable
 9   investment when compared to the potential negative effects
10   associated with undetected hearing loss; and
11   
12       WHEREAS, if children receive appropriate vision and hearing
13   screening and services early in life, they are less likely to
14   need more costly care later on; and
15   
16       WHEREAS, the Department of Health's (DOH) Hearing and
17   Vision Program has been abolished due to a reduction-in-force,
18   and therefore, no longer provides hearing and vision screening
19   services to students in Hawaii; now, therefore,
20   
21       BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the
22   Twentieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session
23   of 2000, the Senate concurring, that DOH and the Department of
24   Education (DOE) are requested to reinstate the Hearing and
25   Vision Program for children prior to their entry into
26   kindergarten or the first grade; and
27   
28       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that DOH and DOE submit a report of
29   the actions taken pursuant to this request to the Legislature
30   no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular
31   Session of 2001; and
32   
33       BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
34   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health
35   and the Superintendent of Education.
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39                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________