Bill Text: PA SR379 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Designating the month of November 2012 as "COPD Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania.

Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill

Status: (Passed) 2012-10-15 - Introduced and adopted [SR379 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2011-SR379-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 2478
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No. 379 Session of2012
INTRODUCED BY BAKER, ALLOWAY, BOSCOLA, BREWSTER, BROWNE, DINNIMAN, EARLL, ERICKSON, FARNESE, FERLO, FONTANA, GREENLEAF, KASUNIC, KITCHEN, McILHINNEY, VULAKOVICH, SCHWANK, PILEGGI, RAFFERTY, SOLOBAY, STACK, TARTAGLIONE, WARD AND D. WHITE, OCTOBER 15, 2012
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, OCTOBER 15, 2012
A RESOLUTION
Designating the month of November 2012 as "COPD Awareness Month"
in Pennsylvania.
WHEREAS, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a
term used to describe airflow obstruction that is associated
mainly with emphysema and chronic bronchitis; and
WHEREAS, COPD affects more than 24 million individuals in the
United States and kills more than 124,000 Americans every year,
and on average 1 person dies from COPD every 4 minutes; and
WHEREAS, In 2010, the National Center for Health Statistics
released a report stating that, in 2008, COPD became the third
leading cause of death in the United States; and
WHEREAS, COPD currently accounts for 1.5 million emergency
room visits, 726,000 hospitalizations and 8 million physician
office visits and hospital outpatient visits, all of which are
detrimental to the United States' economy; and
WHEREAS, COPD costs the nation an estimated $49.9 billion in
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direct and indirect medical costs annually; and
WHEREAS, COPD affects an estimated 655,000 citizens of
Pennsylvania and is the fourth leading cause of death in this
Commonwealth; and
WHEREAS, Research has identified a hereditary protein
deficiency called Alpha-1 Antitrypsin, and individuals with this
deficiency tend to develop COPD despite the lack of exposure to
smoking and other environmental triggers; and
WHEREAS, Recently, the death rate for women with COPD has
surpassed the death rate of men with COPD, and women over the
age of 40 are the fastest growing segment of the population
developing this irreversible disease due mostly to the
equalization of opportunity over the past several generations
for men and women to smoke; and
WHEREAS, There is currently no cure for COPD although
spirometry testing and medical treatments exist to address
symptom relief and possibly slow progression of the disease; and
WHEREAS, Until there is a cure, the best approaches to
preventing COPD and its considerable health, societal and
mortality impacts lie in education, awareness and expanded
delivery of detection and management protocols; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate designate the month of November
2012 as "COPD Awareness Month" in Pennsylvania to promote
greater public awareness, enhance education, erase the stigma
and increase early diagnosis of this disease in order to save
lives and to reduce health costs in this Commonwealth.
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