HLS 17RS-1233 ORIGINAL
2017 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 81
BY REPRESENTATIVE HOFFMANN
HEALTH/CANCER: Requests the Louisiana Department of Health to post information
concerning bone marrow donations on the department's website
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health to post information concerning
3 bone marrow donations on the department's website for dissemination by healthcare
4 practitioners to patients.
5 WHEREAS, since 1987, when the United States Congress authorized the
6establishment of a national registry of volunteer bone marrow donors, the National Marrow
7Donor Program, now publicly known as Be The Match, has facilitated more than seventy-
8four thousand marrow and umbilical cord blood transplants; and
9 WHEREAS, Be The Match states that the number of transplants facilitated through
10the national Be The Match Registry is only a fraction of the people who can benefit; and
11 WHEREAS, one of the leading hurdles cited in a report by the Government
12Accountability Office is locating a suitably matched, unrelated donor, a process that is often
13difficult, time-consuming, and costly; and
14 WHEREAS, seventy percent of patients do not have a donor in their family and rely
15upon the national registry to find a match; and
16 WHEREAS, there is a need to enhance the understanding of the importance of bone
17marrow donation, and to encourage residents of Louisiana to participate in bone marrow
18donation drives; and
19 WHEREAS, the most prevalent problem with respect to bone marrow donation is the
20need for racially and ethnically diverse donors because of complex tissue types; and
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HCR NO. 81
1 WHEREAS, of the more than thirteen million five hundred thousand potential donors
2on the national Be The Match Registry, forty percent are donors from racially and ethnically
3diverse backgrounds; and
4 WHEREAS, there is a need to engage the public to increase diversity in the registry,
5with the goal of finding a matching donor for all patients to receive the transplant they need,
6when they need it; and
7 WHEREAS, the bone marrow registration process is simple as it only takes a few
8minutes and requires a cheek swab; and
9 WHEREAS, a bone marrow transplant may be the best treatment option or the only
10potential for a cure for patients with leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia, and many
11other diseases; and
12 WHEREAS, as the science of transplant continues to advance, new diseases are
13being treated with bone marrow transplants; and
14 WHEREAS, R.S. 40:1263.2 established the Louisiana Organ Transplant Assistance
15Program within the office of the secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health; and
16 WHEREAS, through the program, the department educates residents of Louisiana
17about the need for bone marrow donors, the procedures required to become registered as a
18potential bone marrow donor, including the procedures for determining the person's tissue
19type, and the medical procedures a donor must undergo to donate bone marrow or other
20sources of blood stem cells and the attendant risks of the procedure; and
21 WHEREAS, the department is also directed to make special efforts to educate and
22recruit minority populations to volunteer as potential bone marrow donors.
23 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
24urge and request the Louisiana Department of Health to post information concerning bone
25marrow donations on the department's website for dissemination by healthcare practitioners
26to patients.
27 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the information to be placed on the department's
28website shall include but not be limited to all of the following:
29 (1)The need for bone marrow donations.
30 (2)Patient populations that would benefit from bone marrow donations.
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HCR NO. 81
1 (3)How to join the national bone marrow registry.
2 (4)How to acquire a free buccal swab kit from the national bone marrow
3 registry.
4 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislature does hereby urge and request all
5healthcare practitioners to provide this life-saving information to patients.
6 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
7secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 81 Original 2017 Regular Session Hoffmann
Requests the La. Department of Health to post information concerning bone marrow
donations on the department's website for dissemination by healthcare practitioners to
patients.
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