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Regular Session, 2012 ENROLLED
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON NO. 49
BY SENATORS BROOME, BUFFINGTON AND PETERSON AND
REPRESENTATIVES BARROW, HODGES, KATRINA JACKSON,
MORENO, NORTON, SMITH, ST. GERMAIN, THIERRY AND
WHITNEY
A CONCURRENT RESOLUTI ON
To recognize the need to devise strategies, with a strong emphasis on recognizing the
warning signs of a cardiovascular event, that encompasses socioeconomic factors,
cultural barriers, and lifestyle choices, for women at highest risk, to decrease the
incidence of women dying of heart disease and stroke.
WHEREAS, heart disease, often called the "silent killer", continues to be the number
one killer of women, with a woman dying from heart disease every sixty seconds; and
WHEREAS, heart disease claims more women's lives than the next eight causes of
death combined, including breast cancer; and
WHEREAS, two-thirds of American women who die suddenly from heart disease
had no prior symptoms; and
WHEREAS, African American women and Mexican American women have higher
heart disease and stroke risk factors than American white women of comparable
socioeconomic status with heart disease being the number one killer of African American
women; and
WHEREAS, programs such as Go Red for Women led by the American Heart
Association, WISEWOMAN created by the Centers for Disease Control and HR 1032, the
Heart Disease Education, Analysis and Research, and Treatment for Women Act, which was
reintroduced in Congress on March 2, 2011, are all designed to improve prevention and early
diagnosis, increase the number of women in cardiovascular trials with the trials identifying
sex, age group, and race data, access to the best treatment options for heart disease and
stroke and the continuation of these programs are vital in addressing women's heart health;
and SCR NO. 49 ENROLLED
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WHEREAS, the Women's Heart Health Initiative explores a nontraditional venue to
provide additional cardiovascular screening for women during their OB/GYN office visits
that can be of further assistance to health care providers in early identification, education,
and the prevention of heart disease.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Legislature of Louisiana hereby recognizes
that there is a monumental need for a call to action to devise strategies, with a strong
emphasis on recognizing the warning signs of a cardiovascular event, that encompasses
socioeconomic factors, cultural barriers, and lifestyle choices, for women at highest risk, to
decrease the death of one in three women dying of heart disease and stroke each year.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that during the 2012 Regular Session of the
Legislature, all members and colleagues are strongly encouraged to create public policy that
will be implemented through the Department of Health and Hospitals, welcome public and
private collaboration and support, raise awareness, promote education of heart disease,
increase screening programs that will identify risk factors in women to aid in the early
detection and prevention for heart disease, ensure access to medical treatment protocols for
heart disease, and provide suggestions and support for lifestyle choices that contribute to the
management of heart disease for women at highest risk, in order to improve the quality of
life for all women.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES