Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 2–Assemblymen Cegavske, Tiffany, Giunchigliani, Chowning, de Braga, Anderson, Angle, Arberry, Bache, Beers, Berman, Brower, Brown, Buckley, Carpenter, Claborn, Collins, Dini, Freeman, Gibbons, Goldwater, Gustavson, Hettrick, Humke, Koivisto, Lee, Leslie, Manendo, Marvel, McClain, Mortenson, Neighbors, Nolan, Oceguera, Parks, Parnell, Perkins, Price, Smith, Von Tobel and Williams
Joint Sponsors: Senators Titus, Rawson, Wiener, Porter, Washington, Amodei, Care, Carlton, Coffin, Jacobsen, Mathews, McGinness, Neal, O’Connell, O’Donnell, Raggio, Rhoads, Schneider, Shaffer and Townsend
Assembly Concurrent RESOLUTION—Urging support for the Women’s Health Care Platform: Campaign 2000 initiated by the Women in Government Task Force.
Whereas, Women in Government, a national, bipartisan, nonprofit,
educational association of elected and appointed women in state
government, introduced the Women’s Health Care Platform: Campaign
2000 in Washington, D.C., on May 17, 2000, to serve as a call to action by
policymakers nationwide to lead the way to equality in women’s health
care; and
Whereas, The Women’s Health Care Platform is an initiative that
highlights the inequalities in health care provided to men and women and
outlines goals to eliminate those disparities by focusing on care, research
and education that are relevant for women; and
Whereas, Women are different, metabolically, hormonally and
physiologically from men and have different patterns of health and
disease, with some diseases being more common in women than in men;
and
Whereas, More than one in five women have some form of
cardiovascular disease, and it is estimated that over half of all
postmenopausal women will develop a spontaneous fracture as a result of
osteoporosis; and
Whereas, Women are three times more likely to develop rheumatoid
arthritis and two to three times more likely to suffer from depression; and
Whereas, Women are less often referred for diagnostic tests and less
often treated for heart disease than men with the same disease; and
Whereas, Women who smoke are 20 to 70 percent more likely to
develop lung cancer, and, during unprotected sex, women are 10 times
more likely than men to be infected with the human immunodeficiency
virus; and
Whereas, Women outnumber men three to one in long-term care
facilities; and
Whereas, Most men and women agree that women are entitled to have
quality medical treatment and to have access to the latest technologies and
appropriate diagnostic tests; and
Whereas, Even though the National Institutes of Health and the Food
and Drug Administration were required to include women in clinical trials
10 years ago, women remain under-represented in health studies; and
Whereas, While there has been some national attention on women’s
health care issues and some legislative activity by the Congress of the
United States on appropriate access, there remains little change in the
vitally important issues of preventive care and treatment; and
Whereas, An increase in state support for women’s health can make a
significant difference in improving the status of women’s health; now,
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of Nevada, the Senate
Concurring, That every state agency and institution of learning or
recipient of state grants or funding in the State of Nevada is urged to take
appropriate action to achieve improved and equal access for women to
quality health care, including, without limitation, measures to:
1. Provide equal access for women to quality health care, including
state-of-the-art medical advances and technology;
2. Increase the number of women covered by comprehensive health
care insurance, including primary and preventive health care;
3. Promote strategies to prevent serious health problems by increasing
patient access to recommended diagnostic and screening tests, preventive
health regimens and recommended treatments;
4. Encourage unimpeded access to women’s specialty health providers
and improve communications between providers and patients;
5. Create and promote partnerships to develop programs designed to
improve the scope and quality of women’s health care;
6. Continue to expand participation of women in clinical trials;
7. Increase government and private research on women’s health issues
with special attention to the differences between men and women and how
those differences affect quality health care;
8. Conduct more research on the outcomes of health care interventions
and preventive measures to demonstrate the long-term and short-term
value to women’s health;
9. Expand medical and nursing school curricula in the area of women’s
health with increased emphasis on gender biology;
10. Support public education campaigns to increase women’s
awareness about their unique health risks and to help them learn how to
negotiate the complexities of today’s health care system and obtain the
best care available;
11. Conduct public health campaigns to focus on key preventive health
issues for women and expand screening programs targeted at lower
-income women to include a full range of known risk factors;
12. Urge the establishment of permanent offices of women’s health
within the State of Nevada to raise awareness of women’s special health
care needs and advocate initiatives to address them; and
13. Foster development and dissemination of publicly available
information on the quality of health care and health outcomes that improve
women’s ability to choose the best women’s health care plan; and be it
further
Resolved, That the organization Women in Government be
commended for its leadership in calling for action on these urgent issues
concerning women’s health in the State of Nevada and throughout the
United States and for outlining meaningful steps that can be taken to attain
improved and equal access for women to quality health care, technologies
and treatments, to promote the education of researchers concerning gender
differences and to gain unimpeded access to women’s health providers; and
be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly prepare and transmit
a copy of this resolution to the State Board of Health, the Director of the
Department of Human Resources, the State Health Officer, the Board of
Medical Examiners, the State Board of Nursing, the Board of Regents of
the University of Nevada, the University of Nevada School of Medicine
and Joy Newton, the Executive Director of Women in Government.
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