Senate Concurrent Resolution
No. 54
CHAPTER 87
Relative to Pain Awareness Month and Women In Pain Awareness Day.
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Filed with
Secretary of State
September 12, 2011.
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LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCR 54, Alquist.
Pain Awareness Month and Women In Pain Awareness Day.
This measure would recognize September 2011 as Pain Awareness Month and call upon all Californians to observe that month by learning how to improve the quality of life of Californians suffering from pain. This measure would also recognize September 16, 2011, as Women In Pain Awareness Day to draw public attention to the gender disparity in pain assessment and treatment in the United States.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee:
NO WHEREAS, More than 75 million Americans live with chronic pain caused by various diseases or disorders, and, each year, nearly 25 million Americans suffer with acute pain; and
WHEREAS, Though medical knowledge and technology exist to relieve or greatly ease pain, most pain is untreated, undertreated, or improperly treated, and many health care professionals are still unaware of how to effectively treat pain; and
WHEREAS, People who suffer from chronic pain often are stigmatized and marginalized and often are not informed about the right to effective pain assessment and management, and most people with pain, including those at the end of life, get little or no relief; and
WHEREAS, Women have a higher prevalence than men of chronic pain syndromes and diseases associated with chronic pain, such as fibromyalgia, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, or osteoarthritis, and women respond differently to certain analgesics; and
WHEREAS, Women’s pain reports are taken less seriously than those of men and women receive less aggressive treatment than men for their pain; and
WHEREAS, Women have developed a number of coping mechanisms to deal with pain, and this may contribute to a general perception that they can endure more pain and that their pain does not need to be taken as seriously; and
WHEREAS, Women more frequently report pain to a health care provider, but are more likely to have their pain reports discounted as emotional or psychogenic and, therefore, not real; and
WHEREAS, The California-based Partners for Understanding Pain is a growing coalition of pain sufferers, physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, therapists, civic leaders, nonprofit organizations, and health care businesses whose mission is to improve the quality of life for people in California experiencing pain; and
WHEREAS, It is the collective mission of this movement to provide practical information for people with pain, inform health care professionals about pain management, and serve as an advocate for people experiencing pain; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly thereof concurring, That the Legislature recognizes the month of September 2011 as Pain Awareness Month, and calls upon all Californians to observe this month by participating in appropriate ceremonies and activities, and by learning how to improve the quality of life for people in California suffering from pain; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature recognizes September 16, 2011, as Women In Pain Awareness Day to draw public attention to the important need to raise awareness concerning gender disparity in pain assessment and treatment in the United States; and be it further
Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.