House Public Health Committee
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Bills discussed (1)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
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HB1053
· 1 mention in transcript
Matched: “…ave a special order of business on Tuesday, January 25th on House Bill 1053. And unless there's any other business, oh, thank you, we d…”
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Pre-2017 bill |
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Representative Linda S. Tyler
Unverified
0:00
We'll take your seats Good morning It's a great morning in Arkansas We've got beautiful misty rain that's coming down and it's going to replenish our ponds and replenish our lakes and that we are very thankful, I'm sure.
What we don't want it to do is turn to ice and snow before all of us can get home. So if I don't have a chance to wish that to you, I will wish you safe travels as we finish up today. We do have a very special, special order of business today on our agenda. And what I'd like to do is to ask Representative Butch Wilkins to take the seat at the end of the table and to introduce his guests and to give us his
report. Representative Wilkins, you'll go ahead and proceed. Thank you, Madam Chair. Committee, thank you
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
1:22
all for being here today. You can't hear me? If you would, get closer to the mic.
Mark Freed
Unverified
1:34
I'm very close now. It works. But thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, committee members. We are here today to introduce a policy that is a result of many, many work, many, many months of hard work by our committee. I think our committee done an excellent job. It consists of advocates for Alzheimer's as well as professionals in the field.
I can't imagine how we could have done this any other way and come to the conclusion that we have. And I want to say now that I don't think we're done. I think we're facing a major disaster coming on us in the next 10 to 20 years. And so it's my age, age, and reach that magic number of 65, which seems to be the lead-in to Alzheimer's. Even though many are diagnosed earlier, my wife was diagnosed, as most of you know, at 56 years old.
and it has been a, it's now 66, she was diagnosed 10 years ago and I
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
2:46
think she had it a couple of years before that. I would like to introduce some people that are here and I have a member of the task force that are here. Will you all please stand up and be recognized?
Whether you realize it at this time or not, you owe a great debt to this group of people. They have put
Mark Freed
Unverified
3:21
in, on a volunteer basis, they have put in a lot of hard work. It's pretty hard to imagine the work they have done and the policy they have come up with. I consider it a foundation. foundation what we have here with the policy of the foundation
we will be introducing legislative agenda we have it will be very respectful of our economy at this time and I intend to ask for a task force going forward I have got the governor's approval and also the speaker of the house we have much to do We've laid a foundation. Now we've got to build a house, and we'll be working on it for many, many years, I think.
I would like to introduce some people. They've made a trip from Jonesboro and that area, braving the weather. Becky McDaniel, who is director of the PACE program, which is a fairly new advocacy group that I think will help us a whole lot in the future. We also have information available to us now that wasn't available to the task force as we worked. I think we have to do it.
We have task force groups, I mean advocacy groups bringing up all over Arkansas. We intend to use every one of them. We have a
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
4:52
lot of information to get out to the public and a lot of good information, we think. I also have an advocacy group here from
Mark Freed
Unverified
5:01
Mark Freed. Would y'all stand up, please? That is not all the group.
Speaker 23
5:13
I'm going to introduce Mark Freed to you,
Mark Freed
Unverified
5:18
Mark, as chairman of the... I'm going to let Mark give you his title himself, actually. Thank you, Representative Wilkins.
Speaker 25
5:26
My name is Mark Freed. I'm the president and CEO of the Oklahoma and Arkansas chapter of the Alzheimer's Association. And today I'm here representing our chapter as a whole, our local office right here in Little Rock and the other two offices we have throughout the state, as well as the Alzheimer's Association nationwide. It is an exciting day for the state of Arkansas, for all the
residents here because this report that you will receive if you haven't received it already or that you will be looking at contains crucial information that number one is educational about the foundation of Alzheimer's disease as well as other forms of dementia and the the impact that it has on the state level, on the impact on the health care system, on the financial impact on Medicare, Medicaid, all those different things. There is several things about the report that are very policy-driven, including the eight recommendations. One in
particular I'm very excited about, there is a, for those who don't know, the behavioral risk factor surveillance system is a questionnaire system that is done at the state level. And the recommendation from the task force is to include a dementia-specific module within the next BRFSS survey. And I am pleased to report that the Alzheimer's Association, through a grant from the National Institutes of Health, is footing the bill to fund the dementia-specific module for
for the BRFSS survey here at the state level here in Arkansas if that moves forward, you know, with the kind of excitement and with the kind of results that we're looking for. And the whole goal of the BRFSS module is to help us have a better feel for the true impact at the personal level of how Alzheimer's impacts caregivers and what really the fallout is from a day-to-day basis from this disease. This report, as Butch said, is just a result of many, many months of discussions
and bringing in experts and work groups and all those different things. And what we have before us is an opportunity to, as he said, to lay the groundwork and move forward. We realize with this disease, until there's a magic bullet, there is going to be work to be done every single day because this is an escalating epidemic, and we ask for your consideration as you read through this and look at the recommendations to lead and help prepare the state of Arkansas,
not just within the next year, within the next two years, but in the next generation. And the foundation and the stepping stones that are laid now are going to help us be able to provide the kind of service and support to those who are facing the journey every single day of their lives. So, again, on behalf of the Alzheimer's Association, and I would like to say thank you to your willingness to take a look at this report and receive it and would welcome any sort of questions you may have.
Representative Linda S. Tyler
Unverified
8:47
Members of the committee, I'll remind you that the report was placed on our desk yesterday in chambers, So each of you do have a full copy of the report, and you do have at your desk today the recommendations specifically that this task force is recommending. So I would ask if do we have any questions from the committee. Seeing no questions,
Representative Wilkins, do you have any other comments you would like to make?
Mark Freed
Unverified
9:22
The effects of this disease to families is devastating. Am I close enough? Am I close enough, Linda? Can you help me? The effects of
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
9:40
this disease on families is absolutely devastating. Now we have in Arkansas, we have 70,000 plus Alzheimer's patients that we know of. We lack the information to the
Mark Freed
Unverified
9:51
public to where to get help.
You know, there's several things we need to be dealing
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
9:57
with in the future. I'll say again, I'm very proud of this task force. I'm very proud of the work they've done. I think we have presented a good policy, which we can build on in the future. So with that, I'll close unless there's questions on the committee to think about it. Representative Wilkins, thank you.
Representative Linda S. Tyler
Unverified
10:24
I congratulate you on the work that you and your committee have done. I think any of us that would sit around and talk about this dreadful disease recognizes that not only does it impact the individual who has the disease, but it drastically impacts the family. So it is a multiplier effect in terms of the effect it has on our state and on those individuals. And I see Representative Gaskell is raising his hand, so I didn't hit the gavel soon enough. What I wanted to say, Madam Chair, thank you.
Representative Billy W. Gaskill
Unverified
10:57
You're welcome. This affects us more than we think it does. My age of being 81, every time I lose a pen, I think, oh, my God, is it starting on me. Or if I do the normal things like misplacing my house key, I think, my God, is this the beginning of it. the beginning of it. So, yes, we do live in fear of it every day. That's why I work crosswork puzzles till midnight. Sometimes I'm afraid to go to sleep. But it does bother us a whole
lot. And I thank you so much. I guess when I do get it, I get to depend on you guys. But I certainly admire you for the job you're doing.
Mark Freed
Unverified
11:41
And thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Doc. With 8,000 of us today now
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
11:47
turning 65 over the next two decades, we're going to have a tremendous burden out of this. It has the potential to wreck
us financially. Butch, don't remind me of that, okay?
Representative Linda S. Tyler
Unverified
12:05
I'm not planning to do that. I'll talk about everyone's. Thank you very much. Any other questions? I'm going to mention that over the next several meetings, Mr. Price and I have been putting our heads together, thanks to his leadership as well on information that this committee could use that would be helpful as we deliberate over the session. And I would just ask you that if there's information about what comes before this committee that
you feel like you need some information on, don't hesitate to talk with Representative Woods or myself or Mr. Price because we'll want to make sure that we get you that information and put it in your hands. So we don't want to inundate you either. So we're going to try to be judicial with what we do, but what information we give you. But we want to be helpful as well so that as we deliberate over the next several weeks that we're able to do that with some good information. Representative Wilkins, thank you very much.
Thank you, Madam Chair. So I will also remind you that we do have a special order of business on Tuesday, January 25th on House Bill 1053. And unless there's any other business, oh, thank you, we do have a committee picture next Thursday. So we'll be dressed in our finest duds, as I heard somebody say in an announcement the other day on Thursday, and we'll remind you again on Tuesday. So we have a special order of business on Tuesday, and everyone have safe travels.
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Speakers
Representative Linda S. Tyler
Unverified
Representative Butch Wilkins
Unverified
Mark Freed
Unverified
Speaker 23
Speaker 25
Representative Billy W. Gaskill
Unverified