Senate Bill sb2820

    Florida Senate - 2006        (NP)                      SR 2820

    By Senator Wilson





    33-7A-06

  1                        Senate Resolution

  2         A resolution recognizing the week of April

  3         16-22, 2006, as "Minority Cancer Awareness

  4         Week" in the State of Florida.

  5  

  6         WHEREAS, there has been recent progress in the fight

  7  against cancer, yet many Floridians still suffer unequal rates

  8  of cancer incidence and mortality, and medically underserved

  9  populations have inadequate access to quality cancer

10  prevention, screening, treatment, and rehabilitation services,

11  and

12         WHEREAS, certain populations of Floridians, such as

13  African Americans, Hispanics, Latinos, and the medically

14  uninsured, experience higher rates of cancer incidence and

15  death, and

16         WHEREAS, even when poverty levels are accounted for,

17  African Americans, American Indians, Asian Americans, and

18  Pacific Islanders have lower 5-year-cancer-survival rates than

19  whites who are not of Hispanic descent, and

20         WHEREAS, among all racial and ethnic groups, African

21  Americans experience the highest death rate from all cancers

22  and the highest death rate from lung, bronchial, colorectal,

23  female breast, prostate, and uterine cancers, and

24         WHEREAS, Hispanics and Latinos are the fastest-growing

25  segment of the nation's population, and Hispanics are now the

26  largest minority population in Florida, and

27         WHEREAS, almost 35 percent of the Hispanic and Latino

28  population have no health care coverage and almost 31 percent

29  have no access to regular medical care, making Hispanics and

30  Latinos the most medically underserved population among all

31  racial and ethnic groups, and

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 2006        (NP)                      SR 2820
    33-7A-06




 1         WHEREAS, 19.6 percent of adult Floridians have no

 2  health care coverage and frequently lack access to quality

 3  health care, including potentially lifesaving services to

 4  screen for, detect, and treat cancer, and

 5         WHEREAS, minority cancer awareness initiatives, such as

 6  those promoted by the American Cancer Society and Florida's

 7  recognition of the nationally observed Minority Cancer

 8  Awareness Week, will encourage efforts to reduce ethnic,

 9  racial, and socioeconomic cancer disparities, NOW, THEREFORE,

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11  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:

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13         That the Florida Senate recognizes April 16-22, 2006,

14  the third week of the month, as "Minority Cancer Awareness

15  Week" in the State of Florida, and urges all Floridians to

16  work with cancer-education providers, such as the American

17  Cancer Society, to increase awareness of the disparities that

18  minority populations face in the fight against cancer.

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.