2015 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 116
BY SENATOR HEITMEIER
A RESOLUTION
To recognize the month of September 2015 as "Pain Awareness Month" in Louisiana.
WHEREAS, over one hundred million American adults suffer from chronic pain,
including millions with debilitating conditions such as chronic lower back pain,
fibromyalgia, and arthritis; and
WHEREAS, chronic pain costs America up to six hundred thirty-five billion dollars
a year in added health costs and lost productivity, including billions of dollars in Medicaid
costs; and
WHEREAS, chronic pain is a major public health problem and hidden driver of
rising health care costs; and
WHEREAS, significant barriers to adequate pain care exist, including regulatory,
legal, institutional, financial, and geographical barriers, and as a result, millions of
Americans settle for inadequate pain care; and
WHEREAS, pain and pain treatment represent a national challenge and cultural
modifications are needed to better prevent, assess, treat, and understand pain of all types; and
WHEREAS, these findings regarding chronic pain were made by the Institute of
Medicine (IOM) of the National Academy of Sciences in its landmark report issued in 2011,
Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and
Research; and
WHEREAS, the IOM report includes a number of recommendations to improve pain
care, education, and research; and
WHEREAS, the IOM report found that significant savings could be achieved through
better treatment of acute pain, such as a reduction in workers' compensation costs, an end
to significant lost tax revenues, and a reduced burden of the societal costs of opioid abuse
and misuse; and
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WHEREAS, the IOM report urges that the nation should develop a comprehensive
plan that heightens awareness about pain and its health consequences, emphasizes the
prevention of pain, improves the assessment of pain and plans for management of that pain,
uses public health strategies to educate the public, and addresses the disparities in the
experience of pain among Americans; and
WHEREAS, by naming a Pain Awareness Month in the state, the Louisiana State
Senate is taking a positive step in heightening awareness of pain, particularly chronic pain,
and its health consequences; and
WHEREAS, chronic pain is a serious health problem and the appropriate agencies
of state government should examine how the state can improve the health and productivity
of its citizens and reduce personal and government health care expenditures by implementing
the recommendations of the IOM report.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby recognize the month of September 2015 as "Pain Awareness Month" in
Louisiana.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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