103 STAT. 3040 PROCLAMATION 5979—MAY 15, 1989 9817.00.94 Braille tablets, cubarithms, and special '" apparatus, machines, presses, and types for their use or benefit exclusive- ly Free ftee 9817.00.06 Other Free Free" Proclamation 5979 of May 15, 1989 Trauma Awareness Month, 1989 By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation Every American is a potential trauma victim. By any measure—^wheth- er we consider its economic costs or the tmfathomable price paid in lost and broken lives—traumatic injury constitutes a major public health problem. Each year, more than 150,000 Americans lose their lives to traumatic injuries; many others are severely or permanently disabled by them. Traumatic injury is the leading cause of death of people under 40 years of age. Deaths due to traumatic injury claim the hope and promise of more young lives than cancer and heart disease combined. The elderly, too, are at high risk from hip fracture and other types of injiuy. In addition to the personal fragedy to individuals, traumatic injuries constitute one of ovu* Nation's most expensive public health problems. Traumatic injury at any age is fragic and tmnecessary. Most of these tragedies are preventable. We need to educate all Americans, begin- ning with the yoxmg people in our Nation's schools, about traumatic in- juries and how they occur. We need to make our citizens aware of the ways to prevent dangerous situations that can lead to traumatic injury. All Americans should also learn about the actions that can be taken to reduce the severity of these injuries through improved emergency medi- cal services, frauma care, and rehabilitation. By combining the efforts of individual citizens, health care profession- als, researchers, business and industry, voluntary agencies, and govern- ment oflKcials, the toll of fraumatic injury and subsequent losses can be reduced. To enhance public awareness of fratmiatic injury, the Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 68, has designated the month of May 1989 to be "National Trauma Awareness Month" and has authorized and request- ed the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this occasion. NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE BUSH, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1989 as "National Travuna Aware- ness Month." I urge the people of the United States, their government agencies, health care providers, and schools to take an active part in preventing fraumatic injiuies by learning more about the fraumatic injury problem. I also urge all Americans to support private and public efforts to prevent traumatic injuries and provide high-quality treatment for those that do occur. We can do this by supporting research into new ways to prevent and freat fraumatic injuries and by helping the victims of fraumatic injiuies to recover from the physical, emotional, and financial bturdens they inflict.
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