[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 76 (Wednesday, April 21, 1999)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 19681-19682]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-10176]
[[Page 19679]]
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Part VI
The President
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Proclamation 7185--National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week, 1999
Proclamation 7186--National Volunteer Week, 1999
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 76 / Wednesday, April 21, 1999 /
Presidential Documents
___________________________________________________________________
Title 3--
The President
[[Page 19681]]
Proclamation 7185 of April 16, 1999
National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week,
1999
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
Organ donation is one of humanity's most noble
expressions of compassion and generosity. It reflects
the extraordinary selflessness of the donor and gives
the recipient a second chance to experience life's
abundant blessings.
For many people across our country, receiving an organ
or tissue transplant means relief from suffering and a
marked improvement in the quality of their lives. For
others, it literally means the difference between life
and death. And the demand for such donations continues
to grow. In the last six years, the number of people on
the national organ transplant list has doubled, from
more than 30,000 in 1993 to more than 62,000 patients
today. A new name is added to that list every 18
seconds.
Fortunately, thanks to remarkable medical
breakthroughs, each of us has the power to improve
these troubling statistics. In December of 1997, Vice
President Gore and Secretary of Health and Human
Services (HHS) Donna Shalala launched the National
Organ and Tissue Donation Initiative to raise awareness
of the successes of transplantation and to educate our
citizens about the urgent and continuing need for organ
and tissue donations. Building on this effort, the
Health Care Financing Administration now requires
hospitals participating in Medicaid and Medicare to
notify organ procurement organizations of all deaths
and imminent deaths at their facilities and to train
their personnel to discuss donation with the families
of potential donors. Judging from the positive impact
of similar legislation in Pennsylvania, we anticipate
that this new Federal regulation will substantially
increase the number of donations throughout the
country.
Becoming a donor is simple, requiring only that we
complete and carry a donor card and inform our families
and friends about our wish to donate. This second step
is a critical one because, according to a new study
issued by HHS, almost all Americans would agree to
donate their loved one's tissue or organs if they knew
their loved one had requested it. Fewer than half would
consent if they did not know their loved one's wishes.
During National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week,
I urge all Americans to become potential donors. By
doing so, we can bring new hope and improved lives to
thousands of our fellow citizens and hasten the day
when no American on the organ transplant waiting list
loses the race against time.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim April 18 through April 24,
1999, as National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness
Week. I urge all health care professionals, educators,
the media, public and private organizations concerned
with organ donation and transplantation, the clergy,
and all Americans to join me in promoting greater
awareness and acceptance of this humanitarian action.
[[Page 19682]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-nine, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and twenty-third.
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 99-10176
Filed 4-20-99; 8:51 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P
