BILL REQ. #:  S-3544.1 

Read first time 01/18/10.   Referred to Committee on Health & Long-Term Care.

     TO MARY SELECKY, SECRETARY OF THE WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH:
     We, your Memorialists, the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Washington, in legislative session assembled, respectfully represent and petition as follows:
     WHEREAS, Cardiovascular disease has, since 1900, been the number one killer in the United States, and one in three persons has some form of cardiovascular disease; and
     WHEREAS, Diseases of the heart and stroke cause more annual deaths than all forms of cancer, diabetes, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, suicide, homicide, and human immunodeficiency virus combined; and
     WHEREAS, Coronary heart disease is so prevalent that one in five deaths is attributable to the disease, every twenty-five seconds someone will suffer from a coronary event, and every minute someone will die from a coronary event; and
     WHEREAS, The estimated direct and indirect cost of cardiovascular
disease in the United States in the year 2009 is $475.3 billion; and
     WHEREAS, The economic costs of heart disease and stroke alone are approximately four billion dollars annually for hospitalization and long-term care alone in Washington state; and
     WHEREAS, Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and a major cause of disability not only in the United States but Washington state, and coronary heart disease and stroke are the second and third leading causes of death, after all cancers, and account for thirty-four percent of all deaths; and
     WHEREAS, In 2007 it was reported that there were 10,958 deaths due to diseases of the heart and 2,681 deaths attributed to cerebrovascular disease in Washington state; and
     WHEREAS, An average of nineteen women die each day in Washington state from heart disease and stroke; and
     WHEREAS, Heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular diseases are the number one killer of women in Washington state and account for 30.1% of all the female deaths in Washington; and
     WHEREAS, Reported preventable risk factors for heart disease and stroke in Washington state are alarming, with thirty-three percent of adults reporting high cholesterol, twenty-four percent reporting high blood pressure, seven percent with diabetes, seventeen percent currently smoking, sixty percent reporting being overweight, and thirty-six percent reporting insufficient physical activity; and
     WHEREAS, The number of people over the age of sixty-five in Washington is expected to nearly double by 2030; and the prevalence of cardiovascular disease sharply increases with advancing age; and
     WHEREAS, Heart disease can now be reduced through governmental policies and through changes in lifestyle and habits;
     NOW, THEREFORE, Your Memorialists respectfully pray that the Washington State Department of Health examine, in the ordinary course of business, current and prospective programs, treatments, education, and awareness of cardiovascular disease that are needed for a thriving and healthy Washington.
     BE IT RESOLVED, That copies of this Memorial be immediately transmitted to Mary Selecky, Secretary of the Washington State Department of Health.