Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 90 Part 2.djvu/1619

 PROCLAMATION 4426—APR. 5, 1976

90 STAT. 3087

migration of our population from farm to city during the first half of this century. In the last decade this migration came to a halt and to some extent was reversed. From 1970-1973, the growth rate for rural areas actually exceeded the growth rate for metropolitan areas, thus compounding the problem. The Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare has designated 1,400 counties and regions as critical health manpower shortage areas where there are too few doctors, dentists, nurses and other health professionals to properly serve the population. Most of these are in rural areas. Let me affirm, in our Nation's Bicentennial year—which celebrates to such a great extent the positive values of our rural heritage—that we shall make a major commitment to the improvement of health care in our rural communities. I call upon all our people, rural and urban alike, to support the goal of improving the quality of rural life through better health. NOW, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FOR D, President of the United States of America, to draw attention to these facts and to encourage solutions to the health problems of rural America, do hereby designate the week beginning April 4, 1976, as National Rural Health Week. I N W I T N E S S WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of April, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and seventy-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundredth. GERALD R.

Proclamation 4426

FORD

April 5, 1976

Older Americans Month, 1976 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Among our Nation's most precious natural resources are the collective wisdom, experience and abilities of our older citizens. In recent years we have become more aware of the impKytant contributions older Americans have made in the past and in the tremendous potential they hold for the future. We are increasing our efforts to ensure that they have the opportunity for independent living through security of income, maintenance of health and continued useful involvement in the life of our Nation. America's older citizens have earned the gratitude and respect of our society, as well as our recognition of their worth and dignity. In this spirit, the Federal Council on Aging has prepared the Bicentennial Charter for Older Americans expressing their rights and obligations. The job market and the area of volunteer services provide some of the best opportunities to draw on the strengths and talents of older Americans. Unfortunately, older, and even middle-aged workers, are too often the victims of myth and prejudice

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