Bill Text: CA SCR36 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Adolescent health.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2009-08-27 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 86, Statutes of 2009. [SCR36 Detail]
Download: California-2009-SCR36-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: SCR 36 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
RESOLUTION CHAPTER 86
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 27, 2009
ADOPTED IN SENATE MAY 18, 2009
ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 20, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Senator Alquist
(Principal coauthor: Senator Strickland)
APRIL 20, 2009
Relative to adolescent health.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 36, Alquist. Adolescent health.
This measure would recognize and commend the number and scope of
existing "well adolescent" programs and initiatives that the State
Department of Public Health, the State Department of Education, and
the State Department of Health Care Services are charged with
administering. This measure would also encourage all Californians to
recognize and support the focus of the departments on improving
California adolescent health through education and outreach efforts
to prevent chronic diseases, promote improved treatment of chronic
diseases, and ensure updated immunizations against preventable
diseases.
WHEREAS, During the transition from childhood to adulthood,
adolescents establish unhealthy patterns of behavior and make poor
lifestyle choices that affect both their current and future health.
For example, 80 percent of adolescents who are obese will remain
obese as adults; and
WHEREAS, Adolescence is a critical time to develop positive habits
and skills that can lead to healthy lifestyles and behaviors over
the adolescent's lifetime. The Institute of Medicine and the National
Research Council conducted a study that found that one important
factor in designing an adolescent health service is the focus on
prevention of disease. One of the study's findings concluded that "
[p]revention, early intervention and timely treatment improve health
status for adolescents, prepare them for healthy adulthood, and
decrease the incidence of many chronic diseases in adulthood"; and
WHEREAS, Many adolescents may not have access to primary health
care and the National Association of County and City Health Officials
(NACCHO) encourages the adolescent health care platform to occur in
multiple settings, including both traditional and nontraditional
settings, such as schools; and
WHEREAS, Adolescents and young adults are adversely affected by
serious health and safety issues, such as motor vehicle crashes,
violence, and substance abuse. They also struggle to adopt behaviors
that could decrease their risk of developing chronic diseases in
adulthood, behaviors such as eating nutritiously, engaging in
physical activity, and choosing not to use tobacco. Environmental
factors, such as family, peer group, school, and community
characteristics, also contribute to the challenges that adolescents
face. In the past few years, immunizations have been licensed to
provide protection for adolescents against infections and diseases,
such as meningitis, tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis,
influenza, and cervical cancer; and
WHEREAS, The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP),
the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of
Family Practitioners (AAFP), and the American Medical Association
(AMA) recommend a routine health care visit for adolescents who are
11 to 12 years of age to receive recommended immunizations and other
evidence-based preventive health care services; and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Health and Human Services'
Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has developed,
in conjunction with AAP, the Bright Futures Initiative, which
provides a set of guidelines, that include, but are not limited to,
recommendations on immunizations and routine health screenings for
adolescents; and
WHEREAS, NACCHO supports the development of an adolescent health
care platform that would address unmet prevention needs among
adolescents, including, but not limited to, health care screenings
and testing, age appropriate immunizations, injury prevention,
obesity prevention, and mental health screenings; and
WHEREAS, ACIP recommends the use of FDA-approved vaccines for
tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis, meningitis, influenza, and
cervical cancer in adolescents; and
WHEREAS, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has
launched a national campaign to raise awareness about adolescent
health and immunizations; and
WHEREAS, The CDC's National Immunization Survey (NIS) found that
immunization coverage levels among adolescents, in 2006, did not meet
the Healthy People 2010 objective of 90 percent coverage for
adolescents who are 13 to 15 years of age for any of the vaccines
measured; and
WHEREAS, The Society for Adolescent Medicine has found that
adolescent well visits are one of the best tools for preventive care
to ensure continued health from childhood to adulthood. Children and
adolescents who regularly visit a primary care physician are less
likely to have emergency room visits and preventable
hospitalizations; and
WHEREAS, Because adolescents remain under the guardianship of
their parents, parental awareness of the need for an adolescent well
visit plays an enormous role in the incidence of adolescent well
visits; and
WHEREAS, Adolescent health and wellness education and health
condition prevention programs generate an extraordinary return on
investment when compared to the cost of treating debilitating
episodic disease outbreaks and potential lifetime chronic diseases
that may affect an adolescent in his or her adult years; now,
therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes and commends the
number and scope of existing "well adolescent" programs and
initiatives that the State Department of Public Health, the State
Department of Education, and the State Department of Health Care
Services are charged with administering; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature hereby encourages all Californians
to recognize and support the focus of the State Department of Public
Health, the State Department of Education, and the State Department
of Health Care Services on improving California adolescent health
through their education and outreach efforts to prevent chronic
diseases, promote improved treatment of chronic diseases, and ensure
updated immunizations against preventable diseases; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the State Department of Public Health, the State
Department of Education, and the State Department of Health Care
Services, and to the author for appropriate distribution.
