Posted: | December 7, 2012 10:34 AM |
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From: | Senator Edwin B. Erickson |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Cardiovascular Disease Advisory Committee |
I intend to reintroduce Senate Bill 258 of 2011, legislation that will establish the Cardiovascular Disease Advisory Committee. The Committee's duties will include advising the Department of Health on how to raise awareness on prevention of cardiovascular disease and stroke; identify and utilize evidence-based education strategies for public education; and identify and review health-related prevention strategies. In addition, this bill requires the Department of Health to compile stroke care information and statistics, and to make this information available on its website. The Department will coordinate with the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council to make certain there is no duplication. This legislation is prompted by the staggering statistics surrounding the occurrences of strokes, which affect victims every 45 second in the U.S. Stroke is the nation’s third most frequently occurring fatal disease, and will victimize about 700,000 Americans this year. In 2000, the Pennsylvania Legislature adopted a resolution (2000 SR 130) directing the Joint State Government Commission to study stroke rehabilitation and prevention and to recommend areas of improvement in treatment. |