National Family Caregivers Week, 1999

Proclamation 7254 of November 19, 1999

National Family Caregivers Week, 1999

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

During this season when we give thanks for the many
blessings in our lives, let us take time to acknowledge
the loving support of the millions of family caregivers
across our country who provide for the needs of
parents, spouses, and other loved ones who are no
longer able to care for themselves. These remarkable
individuals give their utmost to ensure that their
relatives can remain in the comforting, familiar
surroundings of their homes and communities.

Family caregivers embody the finest of American values.
With compassion and a deep sense of responsibility,
they devote their time and energy and often their own
financial resources to care for family members in need.
In many ways, family caregivers are mainstays in the
provision of long-term care in our country. Today, more
than 7 million Americans are informal caregivers who
provide unpaid help to older persons, and 95 percent of
older Americans with limitations on their daily living
activities depend on family members for some portion of
their care. That number will continue to grow during
the next three decades as our elderly population
doubles, with the aging of 76 million baby boomers.
Recognizing the important role family caregivers play
in the lives of so many, we must continue to strongly
support efforts to provide them with the assistance,
information, and encouragement they need to fulfill
their vital responsibilities to older family members,
and to those who are chronically ill or disabled.

Millions of lives have been enriched by the hard work
and generosity of family caregivers; many older, ill,
or disabled Americans enjoy a greater measure of
comfort, dignity, and independence thanks to the loving
care of family members. During National Family
Caregivers Week, let us honor the many devoted men and
women whose efforts do so much to strengthen the bonds
of family and community in our Nation.

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 November 21 through November
27, 1999, as National Family Caregivers Week. I call
upon all Americans to pay tribute to and acknowledge
the contributions of caregivers to the quality of our
national life.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
nineteenth day of November, 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-fourth.