Proclamation 6631

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

Home care, the oldest form of health care, traditionally has been provided by families for their loved ones for centuries. It is also a new form of health care, as modern technology has developed to the point where virtually anything available in a hospital can now be provided in the home, a secure and comforting environment.

Each day, thousands of hardworking men and women bring vital home health care services to Americans who are incapacitated by illness, age, or disability. Working in association with more that 12,000 home care agencies across the country, these dedicated professionals and volunteers form a core of caring support in our Nation's vast health care system. This week, we honor them and express our deepest appreciation for their many contributions.

The administrators and employees of home health care agencies work closely with government agencies and with concerned private organizations, including hospitals, to give patients a welcome alternative to institutionalized care. Home health care treats the patient and his or her family members, attending to needs both physical and spiritual, in an atmosphere that fosters dignity, healing, and independence. Secure in familiar surroundings, patients find comfort in the support of their loved ones, while receiving efficient, effective health services, free from institutional constraints.

For the nine to eleven million Americans of all ages who currently require long-term care, there is a unanimity of voice in the choosing of home health care as an alternative to hospital stays. At a time when we are striving to reform our health care system and make it work for all of our citizens, home care is an excellent and cost-effective method.

Thousands of nurses, therapists, social workers, home health aides, and others provide our Nation's home care services, and each of them deserves our recognition and heartfelt thanks. With understanding and compassion, they do more than prolong life—they enhance its quality. For this priceless gift, we honor their service.

To increase public awareness of and support for our Nation's home care agencies, the Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 55, has designated the weeks beginning November 28, 1993, and November 27, 1994, as "National Home Care Week" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of these weeks.

Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the weeks of November 28 through December 4, 1993, and November 27 through December 3, 1994, as National Home Care Week. I encourage all Americans to observe these weeks with appropriate programs and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighteenth.

William J. Clinton