PRINTER'S NO. 1409
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE RESOLUTION
No.
240
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY BAKER, KITCHEN, GREENLEAF, SABATINA, TARTAGLIONE,
DINNIMAN, ARGALL, RAFFERTY, MENSCH, BROWNE, PILEGGI, SCHWANK,
BARTOLOTTA, COSTA, BREWSTER, FARNESE AND VULAKOVICH,
NOVEMBER 16, 2015
INTRODUCED AND ADOPTED, NOVEMBER 16, 2015
A RESOLUTION
Designating the month of November 2015 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 140,000 Americans every year;
and
WHEREAS, An estimated 12.7 million adults 18 years of age and
older have reported a physician diagnosis of COPD; 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 $42.6 billion in
direct and indirect medical costs annually; and
WHEREAS, COPD affects an estimated 714,000 Pennsylvania
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residents 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 determined 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 40
years of age 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 negative effects on individual health
and mortality and its societal impact lie in education,
awareness and expanded delivery of detection and management
protocols; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the Senate designate the month of November
2015 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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