HOUSE RESOLUTION 10

(By Delegates  Higginbotham, Steele, Bartlett, Barnhart, Howell, C. Martin, Dean, Rowan, Kump, Ellington, Hott, D. Kelly, Linville, Mandt and Pack)

[Introduced February 12, 2020]

Expressing concern of the House of Delegates to the need to create patient navigation, psychosocial and survivorship support services and programs for childhood cancer patients and their families in West Virginia.

Whereas, An estimated 13,500 children and adolescents under the age of 20 are diagnosed with cancer each year; and

Whereas, In 1960, only four percent of children with cancer survived more than five years, but today, cure rates have increased to over 80 percent for children and adolescents under the age of 20; and

Whereas, The population of survivors of childhood cancers has grown dramatically, to over 360,000 individuals of all ages as of 2012; and

Whereas, As many as two thirds of childhood cancer survivors are likely to experience at least one late effect of treatment, with as many as one-fourth experiencing a late effect that is serious or life-threatening, with the most common late effects of childhood cancer being neurocognitive, psychological, cardiopulmonary, endocrine and musculoskeletal effects, and secondary malignancies; and

Whereas, As a result of disparities in the delivery of cancer care, minority, low-income, and other medically underserved children are more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage disease, experience poorer treatment outcomes, have shorter survival time with less quality of life, and experience a substantially greater likelihood of cancer death; and

Whereas, As the late effects of cancer treatment may change as therapies evolve, which means that the monitoring and care of cancer survivors may need to be modified on a routine basis; and

Whereas, There is a lack of standardized and coordinated psychosocial care, survivorship education on long term effects and available long term clinics in West Virginia for the children and their families, from the date of diagnosis through treatment and survivorship; therefore, be it

Resolved by the House of Delegates:

That an organized system of care and a method of care for pediatric cancer survivors is needed; and, be it

Further Resolved, That this state needs focused efforts to collaborate, communicate, and research using assessment and customer service forms with parents and children during and after treatment into survivorship, during their hospital stay and after they enter their communities, and to help remove barriers to cancer care and answer questions about the optimal ways to provide health care, follow-up monitoring services, support services and helping integrate them back into the health care facilities if they relapse during their survivorship journey; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the House of Delegates believes that there is a need to create patient navigation, psychosocial, and survivorship support services and programs for childhood cancer patients and their families in West Virginia to contribute to improvements in the quality of care and quality of life of those individuals.