PRINTER'S NO. 3988
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No.
1055
Session of
2015
INTRODUCED BY BAKER, VEREB, REGAN, SONNEY, DUSH, LONGIETTI,
COHEN, HENNESSEY, ROZZI, YOUNGBLOOD, TOOHIL, DiGIROLAMO,
MACKENZIE, V. BROWN, SAYLOR, DAVIS, O'BRIEN, BIZZARRO,
KIRKLAND, BOBACK, KNOWLES, WHEELAND, WATSON, ROSS, WARD,
R. BROWN, D. COSTA, CAUSER, PICKETT, HARHART, KINSEY,
READSHAW, ZIMMERMAN, MAHONEY, PAYNE, PHILLIPS-HILL, NEILSON,
MAJOR, GILLEN, MILNE, McNEILL AND MILLARD, OCTOBER 5, 2016
INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,
OCTOBER 5, 2016
A RESOLUTION
Designating the month of November 2016 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 or
older have reported a physician's 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
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direct and indirect medical costs annually; and
WHEREAS, COPD affects an estimated 714,000 Pennsylvania
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 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 for men with COPD; and
WHEREAS, 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 considerable health, societal and
mortality impacts lie in education, awareness and expanded
delivery of detection and management protocols; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives designate the
month of November 2016 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 care costs in this
Commonwealth.
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