Bill Text: HI SCR161 | 2015 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: The Queen's Transplant Center; MatchingDonors; Kidney Donation; Registry

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-04-01 - The committee on HTH deferred the measure. [SCR161 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2015-SCR161-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	161
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting The queen's transplant center to share information on the MatchingDonors online registry with new patients beginning the kidney transplant qualifying process and with patients currently on the waiting list for a kidney donation.

 

 

     WHEREAS, this body finds that the need for viable organ donations, especially kidney donations, has increased in Hawaii as the State's population has become older, obesity has risen, and diabetes has affected the lives of many of residents; and

 

     WHEREAS, the pool of donors has remained quite small, providing fewer than ten living donor organ donations per year in the State, despite the fact that there are currently more than four hundred fifty people on Hawaii's organ transplant waiting list; and

 

     WHEREAS, in recent years, Hawaii has maintained the longest transplant list, per capita, of any state; and

 

     WHEREAS, the geographical and financial challenges to donating an organ in Hawaii also contribute to the low incidence of donations, as many potential donors live on the neighbor islands and the only available transplant team in Hawaii is located at The Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu; and

 

     WHEREAS, due to these challenges, many potential neighbor island donors cannot afford to provide the donation due to the costs of travel, lost wages, high lodging costs in Honolulu, and other related expenses; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii also faces ethnic and cultural challenges to living organ donation; for example, Pacific Islanders often have an antigen in their blood that requires them to receive organs from an ethnically similar donor with the same antigen; and

 

     WHEREAS, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Filipino, and Japanese ethnic groups traditionally have a risk for chronic kidney disease that is two to four times greater than for other ethnicities in Hawaii, also contributing to a greater need for local donors; and

 

     WHEREAS, when an individual in Hawaii is in need of a kidney transplant, the individual is reviewed by The Transplant Team of The Pacific, who judges the individual's viability to be placed on the State's waiting list of patients in need of living or cadaver donations; and

 

     WHEREAS, a national organ donor registry program is operated by MatchingDonors, a non-profit organization, through a website called www.matchingdonors.com; and

 

     WHEREAS, a patient in need of an organ or a United States citizen wishing to donate an organ, for a nominal fee or no fee at all, may gain a profile on this registry in order to be matched by blood type to obtain the needed organ or to be matched with someone willing to donate; and

 

     WHEREAS, statistics from MatchingDonors show that a high percentage of people who are in need of an organ donor and register through www.matchingdonors.com become matched with a viable candidate for a transplant within six to nine months of registering; and

 

     WHEREAS, MatchingDonors sets up and provides all necessary laboratory work, facilitates all lodging, and coordinates medical and after care during the process, resulting in an enhanced organ transplant process for all involved; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2015, the House of Representatives concurring, that The Queen's Transplant Center is requested to share information on the MatchingDonors online registry with each new patient beginning the kidney transplant qualifying process, including the information necessary for patients to place themselves on Hawaii's state list as well as on the www.matchingdonors.com registry; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that The Queen's Transplant Center is requested to share this information with patients presently on Hawaii's waiting list for a kidney donation so that they also have an opportunity to register; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to The Queen's Transplant Center, Governor, and Director of Health.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

The Queen's Transplant Center; MatchingDonors; Kidney Donation; Registry