HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

61

TWENTY-FIRST LEGISLATURE, 2002

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

requesting Hawaii's organ procurement organization to provide any assistance necessary to further the mission of sharing societies for donor families and recipients.

 

 

WHEREAS, medical technology has advanced to the point where lives can be extended beyond what we had envisioned, even as recently as twenty years ago; and

WHEREAS, people with bad hearts can get new ones, or have mechanical hearts implanted if a human donor cannot be found in time; and

WHEREAS, individuals who suffer massive trauma from car accidents can donate their healthy organs to persons suffering from liver disease, kidney failure, lung injuries, and corneas for eyes; and

WHEREAS, tissues, bone, and other anatomical parts can be used by the living who have injuries that require repair; and

WHEREAS, organ transplantation is a routine medical procedure and is available in Hawaii; and

WHEREAS, as we progress medically, the realization has dawned that the whole person, the whole family, and close friends need psychological and humanitarian support to understand the entire transplant process; and

WHEREAS, it is obvious that the mechanical and procedural aspects are being handled exceptionally well by the medical community; and

WHEREAS, sharing societies, meaning a recipient or donor support group organized to bring together those survivors and donors, including family and friends, affected by anatomical gifts have sprung up because donor families and recipients need support to grieve, understand, and appreciate the entire organ donation and transplant recipient process; and

WHEREAS, this involves thanking the donors, appreciating the life-long need for anti-rejection protocols by the recipient patient, asking for help from family and friends for respite or other types of assistance; and

WHEREAS, there is a need to establish a mechanism for sharing societies in the anatomical gifts process to receive help, financial or otherwise, to collectively help each other and require the organ procurement organization to assist in this effort; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-first Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2002, the Senate concurring, that the Legislature requests Hawaii's organ procurement organization to provide any assistance necessary to further the mission of sharing societies for donor families and recipients; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the procurement organization is requested to provide any assistance needed to further the mission of a sharing society for donor families and recipients and improve their quality of life; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature requests sharing societies either separately or collectively, for any anatomical part handled by the procurement organization, shall be granted by the procurement organization direct financial aid, grants, office supplies, secretarial assistance, computer access for email, Internet access, office space, educational information, and outreach services to enable the sharing societies to help donor families, recipients, recipients' families, and close friends, accept and understand the organ donation concept; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the procurement organization is requested to submit an annual report to the Legislature twenty days before the convening of the Regular Session of 2003, describing all of the services being provided to sharing societies and any other observations regarding costs and benefits of these services; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Executive Director of the Organ Donation Center of Hawaii, who in turn is requested to transmit copies to the following sharing societies: The Coalition for Organ Donation, Transplant Hawaii, and the Donor Family Council.

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Donor Families and Recipients; Organ Procurement Organization