Bill Text: WV HCR48 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Urging the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health to designate Alzheimer's disease and other dementias as a public health issue
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2019-03-07 - House received Senate message [HCR48 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2019-HCR48-Introduced.html
HOUSE Concurrent RESOLUTION 48
(By Delegates Boggs, Canestraro, Estep-Burton, Fluharty, Graves, Hanna, Linville, Longstreth, Lovejoy, Malcolm, Mandt, Maynard, Pethtel, Pyles, Rodigherio, Rohrbach, Rowan, Sypolt, Toney, Williams )
[Originating in the Committee on Senior, Children and Family Issues; January 31, 2019 ]
A RESOLUTION urging the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health to designate Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias as a public health issue.
Whereas, it is the intent of the House of Delegates to increase awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, address cognitive impairment, promote brain health, and meet the needs of caregivers; and
Whereas, Alzheimer’s disease has been traditionally seen as an aging issue, Alzheimer’s is also a public health issue because the burden to society is large, the impact is major, and there are ways to intervene throughout the lifespan; and
Whereas, The onset of Alzheimer’s disease cannot yet be stopped or reversed; and
Whereas, Early detection and diagnosis give people with dementia and their families a better chance of receiving and benefitting from treatment, care and support services and allow them to better prepare for medical, legal and financial decisions in the future; and
Whereas, Alzheimer’s disease is the sixth leading cause of death in adults age eighteen or older in the United States of America; and
Whereas, Currently there are no definitive interventions or successful treatments to prevent or cure Alzheimer’s disease; and
Whereas, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has declared that it is essential to promote early detection, educate the public about risk reduction and continue accurately tracking the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias; and
Whereas, in conjunction with the CDC, the Bureau for Public Health annually conducts the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey to gather statewide public health data; and
Whereas, in the 2015 BRFSS survey, ten percent, or one in ten, of West Virginia residents age 45 and older reported an increase in confusion or worsening memory loss and more than half of them (52.4 percent) had not discussed these cognitive concerns with a health care provider; and
Whereas, dementia caregivers often suffer from stress, depression, increased illnesses and chronic health issues while providing care to their loved ones for long periods of time, saving tax payers billions of dollars in the process; and
Whereas, we recognize the important responsibility the Bureau for Public Health has in promoting and encouraging healthy behaviors among the general public, increasing early detection and diagnosis of disease and disability, reducing risk of future illness and injury, educating the health care workforce, and monitoring the health of the state; now, therefore,
be it
Resolved that the House of Delegates urges the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health to designate Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias as a public health issue;
Further Resolved, that an appropriate copy of this resolution be transmitted to the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health with this final clause omitted, and the introduction thereto, from such copy.
