Proclamation 5677

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

This year, as the American Podiatric Medical Association celebrates its 75th anniversary, we can be truly grateful for the foot care provided by doctors of podiatric medicine and for the continuing benefits of research into medical problems of the foot.

According to medical estimates, the average person walks 115,000 miles in a lifetime. We do this on feet that contain an intricate network of muscles, other tissues, and one fourth of all our bones. Each year, millions of Americans need professional foot care because of injury, neglect or abuse of their feet, the effects of aging or heredity, and diseases such as arthritis and diabetes.

Basic medical research offers significant promise for the prevention and relief of many foot health complaints. New approaches to diagnosis and treatment, however, are also needed to eliminate foot problems. Private, voluntary organizations and the Federal government have developed a strong and enduring partnership committed to research on foot problems and other disorders of the musculoskeletal system. We can have every confidence that concerted efforts will ultimately uncover even more effective treatments for such problems.

The Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 75, has designated the week of August 2 through August 8, 1987, as "National Podiatric Medicine Week" and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this occasion.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week of August 2 through August 8, 1987, as National Podiatric Medicine Week. I urge the people of the United States and educational, philanthropic, scientific, medical, and health care organizations and professionals to observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and twelfth.

RONALD REAGAN

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:32 p.m., July 15, 1987]