THE SENATE

S.R. NO.

37

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

S.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 
   


SENATE RESOLUTION

 

requesting the governor to DEclare 2004 as THE "YEAR OF POLIO AWARENESS" in hawaii.

 

WHEREAS, 2004 is the fiftieth anniversary of the development of the polio vaccine; and

WHEREAS, as many as fifty per cent of American children are believed to not have received all doses of the polio vaccine; and

WHEREAS, the polio vaccination rate in Hawaii in 2003 was below the national average, demonstrating that there is a need in Hawaii to promote vaccination; and

WHEREAS, the success of the polio vaccine has resulted in complacency and has caused people to forget the 1,600,000 polio survivors in America who were born before the development of the vaccine, and who had polio during the epidemics in the mid-twentieth century; and

WHEREAS, of the 20,000,000 polio survivors throughout the world, approximately seventy-five per cent of those that had paralytic polio and forty per cent of those that had "non-paralytic" polio are now experiencing Post Polio Syndrome, the unexpected and often disabling symptoms that can occur about thirty-five years after the poliovirus attack; and

WHEREAS, Post Polio Syndrome symptoms include fatigue, pain, new weakness, cold sensitivity, swallowing problems, and breathing problems; and

WHEREAS, many health care professionals and polio survivors are not aware of the existence of Post Polio Syndrome, or of available treatments; and

WHEREAS, the mission of the Hawaii Post Polio Network includes educating medical professionals, polio survivors, and the community about Post Polio Syndrome, as well as providing a support group for patients and families; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2004, that the Legislature hereby requests the Governor to declare 2004 as "The Year of Polio Awareness" in Hawaii; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Health, Dean of the John A. Burns School of Medicine, President of the Hawaii Chapter of the March of Dimes, President of the Hawaii Medical Association, President of the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, and President of the Hawaii Post Polio Network.

Report Title:

Year of Polio Awareness