Florida Senate - 2024                            (NP)    SR 1816
       
       
        
       By Senator Rouson
       
       
       
       
       
       16-02651-24                                           20241816__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing April 2024 as “Minority
    3         Health Month” in Florida and calling upon all
    4         Floridians to get routine cholesterol tests.
    5  
    6         WHEREAS, high cholesterol, also called
    7  hypercholesterolemia, is the chronic presence of high levels of
    8  cholesterol in the blood, which can lead to cardiovascular
    9  disease (CVD) and even cardiovascular events like heart attacks
   10  and strokes, and
   11         WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
   12  (CDC) estimates that CVD is the most underappreciated public
   13  health crisis of our time, with someone in the United States
   14  having a heart attack every 40 seconds despite roughly 80
   15  percent being preventable, and
   16         WHEREAS, although low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL
   17  C), or “bad” cholesterol, is an easily modifiable risk factor
   18  for CVD, and lower LDL-C is associated with a reduced risk of
   19  heart attack and stroke, more than 80 million American adults
   20  have high LDL-C, and
   21         WHEREAS, African-American adults are 30 percent more likely
   22  than non-Hispanic white American adults to have high blood
   23  pressure, and African-American females are nearly 50 percent
   24  more likely to have high blood pressure than non-Hispanic white
   25  females, and
   26         WHEREAS, in 2019, African Americans were 30 percent more
   27  likely to die from CVD than non-Hispanic white Americans, and
   28         WHEREAS, the AHA indicates that CVD disproportionately
   29  impacts minority populations, affecting 52.3 percent of
   30  Hispanic-American males and 42.7 percent of Hispanic-American
   31  females over the age of 20, and 60.1 percent of African-American
   32  males and 58.8 percent of African-American females over the age
   33  of 20, and
   34         WHEREAS, the CDC has found that 1 in 3 deaths in the United
   35  States are due to CVD, and CVD results in more than $216 billion
   36  in annual health care costs, and
   37         WHEREAS, according to a study published in the Journal of
   38  the American Medical Association, nearly 60 percent of middle
   39  aged Hispanic-American adults have high cholesterol, yet only
   40  half are aware of it, and
   41         WHEREAS, the resources needed to lower the instances of CVD
   42  exist, yet 71 percent of hypercholesterolemia patients at high
   43  risk of a cardiovascular event never achieve the recommended
   44  LDL-C treatment guideline thresholds, and
   45         WHEREAS, the LDL-C Action Summit, a consortium of the
   46  nation’s leading cardiovascular stakeholder groups, seeks to cut
   47  cardiovascular events in half by 2030, and
   48         WHEREAS, the CDC’s Million Hearts program seeks to increase
   49  access to, and improve the quality of, cardiovascular care to
   50  reduce heart disease, stroke, and death, and
   51         WHEREAS, the United States Department of Health and Human
   52  Services Office of Minority Health recognizes April as National
   53  Minority Heath Month, and
   54         WHEREAS, all Floridians are urged to know their LDL-C
   55  level, and
   56         WHEREAS, providers are urged to treat all CVD patients in
   57  accordance with American College of Cardiology treatment
   58  guidelines, and
   59         WHEREAS, the Florida Department of Health is urged to
   60  update the state’s cardiovascular health plan to improve the
   61  quality of cardiovascular care, accelerate measures to achieve
   62  improved health outcomes for patients with CVD, and develop
   63  campaigns to increase cholesterol tests during the month of
   64  April, NOW, THEREFORE,
   65  
   66  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   67  
   68         That April 2024 is recognized as “Minority Health Month” in
   69  Florida, and all Floridians are called upon to get routine
   70  cholesterol tests.