Proclamation 5531

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

Today in almost every American community, the blue and orange emergency medical vehicle and the 911 emergency telephone number are instantly recognized reminders that we are now saving lives in ways unheard of by earlier generations. They remind us of those dedicated emergency medical teams-physicians, nurses, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, educators, administrators, and volunteers-who have cut in half the death rate for medical emergencies from accident or disease over the past two decades.

Each year, some 800,000 Americans lose their lives in such emergencies. But each year, advances in emergency medical care increase the number of lives saved. Almost all of us can recall incidents in which a stricken child or neighbor, or the victim of a highway accident, was saved by quick, efficient, emergency medicine.

Across the Nation, emergency medical services teams are working to cut the death rate from medical emergencies still further. They are working to advance and adapt their skills and training as new methods of emergency treatment are developed. And they are working to educate every American on what each of us can do to cooperate with and to improve the emergency medical services in our own communities. It is also appropriate that we as a Nation should recognize the value and importance of emergency medical services teams. We owe them a great debt of gratitude.

The Congress, by Public Law 99-392, has designated the week beginning September 21, 1986, as "Emergency Medical Services Week" and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this event.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning September 21, 1986, as Emergency Medical Services Week, and I call upon all Americans to participate in ceremonies and activities to express our appreciation to emergency medical services teams and to help educate the public about accident prevention in general and what to do in step-by-step fashion when confronted with a medical emergency wherever and whenever it may occur.

In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eleventh.

RONALD REAGAN

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 2:48 p.m., September 23, 1986]