Emergency Medical Services Week, 2017

Proclamation 9612 of May 19, 2017

Emergency Medical Services Week, 2017

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

During Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Week, we
express our gratitude for the hundreds of thousands of
skilled personnel who help save lives in communities
across the United States each year. Through the hard
work and dedication of these career and volunteer first
responders, Americans receive the finest emergency
medical treatment in their most vulnerable moments. We
also honor those EMS providers who have made the
ultimate sacrifice and given their lives in the line of
duty.

Day or night, in every city, suburb, rural community,
or wilderness area, our Nation relies upon EMS
providers to respond to every kind of emergency
situation to save lives and reduce suffering. In
January, when more than 70 tornadoes touched down in
Georgia and Mississippi, injuring many, EMS responders
were there to help. In March, when wildfires threatened
Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas, taking lives and
forcing thousands from their homes, our EMS personnel
were there providing urgent medical care and patient
transportation. Last month, when flooding and tornadoes
ravaged Missouri, Arkansas, and Texas, EMS personnel
once more came to their neighbors' aid. Whether they
are assisting during natural disasters or providing
lifesaving care after car accidents, heart attacks,
sports injuries, or violent crime, EMS personnel
respond to tens of millions of requests for help each
year in our country. We rest easier knowing that they
stand ready to answer the call.

Over the past 50 years, our Nation's EMS system has
evolved with ever-developing medical, transportation,
and communications technologies to meet the changing
needs of our communities. The EMS Agenda 2050 project--
a joint effort by the National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, the Department of Health and Human
Services, the Department of Homeland Security, and the
EMS community--will help develop a vision for meeting
our communities' future emergency medical services
needs and improve the health of all Americans. We
commend these efforts to develop innovative new
treatments, advance and adapt medical skills, establish
stronger professional standards, and promote public
education and health. This week, we thank our EMS
professionals for their sustained commitment to
excellence and dedication to service, and share our
hopes for a bright future that will make us all safer
and healthier.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Donald J. Trump, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim May 21 through May
27, 2017, as Emergency Medical Services Week. I
encourage all Americans to observe this occasion by
showing their support for local EMS professionals
through appropriate programs, ceremonies, and
activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord two
thousand seventeen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
first.