[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 48 (Monday, December 6, 1993)]
[Pages 2469-2470]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6631--National Home Care Week, 1993 and 1994

 November 29, 1993

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

[[Page 2470]]

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

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 4:28 p.m., November 29, 
1993]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
December 1.