BILL NUMBER: SCR 36CHAPTERED BILL TEXT RESOLUTION CHAPTER 86 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 27, 2009 ADOPTED IN SENATE MAY 18, 2009 ADOPTED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 20, 2009 INTRODUCED BY Senator Alquist (Principal coauthor: Senator Strickland) APRIL 20, 2009 Relative to adolescent health. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SCR 36, Alquist. Adolescent health. This measure would recognize and commend the number and scope of existing "well adolescent" programs and initiatives that the State Department of Public Health, the State Department of Education, and the State Department of Health Care Services are charged with administering. This measure would also encourage all Californians to recognize and support the focus of the departments on improving California adolescent health through education and outreach efforts to prevent chronic diseases, promote improved treatment of chronic diseases, and ensure updated immunizations against preventable diseases. WHEREAS, During the transition from childhood to adulthood, adolescents establish unhealthy patterns of behavior and make poor lifestyle choices that affect both their current and future health. For example, 80 percent of adolescents who are obese will remain obese as adults; and WHEREAS, Adolescence is a critical time to develop positive habits and skills that can lead to healthy lifestyles and behaviors over the adolescent's lifetime. The Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council conducted a study that found that one important factor in designing an adolescent health service is the focus on prevention of disease. One of the study's findings concluded that " [p]revention, early intervention and timely treatment improve health status for adolescents, prepare them for healthy adulthood, and decrease the incidence of many chronic diseases in adulthood"; and WHEREAS, Many adolescents may not have access to primary health care and the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) encourages the adolescent health care platform to occur in multiple settings, including both traditional and nontraditional settings, such as schools; and WHEREAS, Adolescents and young adults are adversely affected by serious health and safety issues, such as motor vehicle crashes, violence, and substance abuse. They also struggle to adopt behaviors that could decrease their risk of developing chronic diseases in adulthood, behaviors such as eating nutritiously, engaging in physical activity, and choosing not to use tobacco. Environmental factors, such as family, peer group, school, and community characteristics, also contribute to the challenges that adolescents face. In the past few years, immunizations have been licensed to provide protection for adolescents against infections and diseases, such as meningitis, tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis, influenza, and cervical cancer; and WHEREAS, The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Family Practitioners (AAFP), and the American Medical Association (AMA) recommend a routine health care visit for adolescents who are 11 to 12 years of age to receive recommended immunizations and other evidence-based preventive health care services; and WHEREAS, The United States Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has developed, in conjunction with AAP, the Bright Futures Initiative, which provides a set of guidelines, that include, but are not limited to, recommendations on immunizations and routine health screenings for adolescents; and WHEREAS, NACCHO supports the development of an adolescent health care platform that would address unmet prevention needs among adolescents, including, but not limited to, health care screenings and testing, age appropriate immunizations, injury prevention, obesity prevention, and mental health screenings; and WHEREAS, ACIP recommends the use of FDA-approved vaccines for tetanus-diphtheria-acellular pertussis, meningitis, influenza, and cervical cancer in adolescents; and WHEREAS, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has launched a national campaign to raise awareness about adolescent health and immunizations; and WHEREAS, The CDC's National Immunization Survey (NIS) found that immunization coverage levels among adolescents, in 2006, did not meet the Healthy People 2010 objective of 90 percent coverage for adolescents who are 13 to 15 years of age for any of the vaccines measured; and WHEREAS, The Society for Adolescent Medicine has found that adolescent well visits are one of the best tools for preventive care to ensure continued health from childhood to adulthood. Children and adolescents who regularly visit a primary care physician are less likely to have emergency room visits and preventable hospitalizations; and WHEREAS, Because adolescents remain under the guardianship of their parents, parental awareness of the need for an adolescent well visit plays an enormous role in the incidence of adolescent well visits; and WHEREAS, Adolescent health and wellness education and health condition prevention programs generate an extraordinary return on investment when compared to the cost of treating debilitating episodic disease outbreaks and potential lifetime chronic diseases that may affect an adolescent in his or her adult years; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes and commends the number and scope of existing "well adolescent" programs and initiatives that the State Department of Public Health, the State Department of Education, and the State Department of Health Care Services are charged with administering; and be it further Resolved, That the Legislature hereby encourages all Californians to recognize and support the focus of the State Department of Public Health, the State Department of Education, and the State Department of Health Care Services on improving California adolescent health through their education and outreach efforts to prevent chronic diseases, promote improved treatment of chronic diseases, and ensure updated immunizations against preventable diseases; and be it further Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the State Department of Public Health, the State Department of Education, and the State Department of Health Care Services, and to the author for appropriate distribution.