Delaware-2015-HCR58-Draft

SPONSOR:	Rep. Jaques, on behalf of all Representatives & Sen. Hall-Long, on behalf of all Senators

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

148th GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 58

RECOGNIZING MARCH 2016 AS "EYE DONOR MONTH" IN THE STATE OF DELAWARE.

WHEREAS, the State of Delaware supports and promotes the health and welfare of its residents through various statewide, neighborhood-based, and national awareness initiatives; and

WHEREAS, vision is one of several important senses that contribute to the general well-being and quality of life of Delaware and all are deserving of the gift of sight; and

WHEREAS, some residents of Delaware experience diminishing vision and blindness as a result of illnesses and injuries affecting the corneal tissue of their eyes; and

WHEREAS, the Eye Bank Association of America (EBAA), the oldest transplantation association in the United States, accredits eye banks and develops standards of practice in the recovery, preservation, storage, and distribution of eye tissue for transplantation and research, as determined by the ophthalmological medical community; and

WHEREAS,Delaware residents receive eye banking care and services from the EBAA-accredited facility, Lions Eye Bank of Delaware Valley, with the mission of restoring sight through cornea transplantation since 1957; and

WHEREAS, each year, over 70,000 corneal transplantation surgeries are performed at EBAA-accredited eye banks; and, in 2014, the Lions Eye Bank of Delaware Valley coordinated a total of 102 cornea transplant surgeries on behalf of Delaware residents; and

WHEREAS, the benevolent offer of organ, tissue and cornea donation and transplantation is an act of heroism by donors and their families; and

WHEREAS, only through the generosity of donors and their families who say ‘yes' tocornea donation in the midst of their grief are recipients of cornea transplants able to regain vision; and

WHEREAS, each year in March the EBAA honors donors and their families who unselfishly consider members of the community in need of a sight-saving transplant;

NOW THEREFORE:

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the 148^th General Assembly of the State of Delaware, the Senate concurring therein, that the month of March 2016 shall be recognized as "Eye Donor Month" in the State of Delaware.