Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
7347034
label
American Heart Month, 1977 [Proclamation]
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
7347034
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
American Heart Month, 1977 [Proclamation]
citationUrl
collections
White House Press Releases (Ford Administration)
Press Releases
largeImageUrl
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
7347034
levelOfDescription
item
productionDates
day
19
logicalDate
1977-01-19
month
1
year
1977
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
405a304452dabfa1
ocrText
Digitized from Box 35 of the White House Press Releases at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 19, 1977
Office of the White House Press Secretary
THE WHITE HOUSE
AMERICAN HEART MONTH, 1977
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
For over three decades, diseases of the heart and
blood vessels have constituted one of our Nation's most
serious health problems. Cardiovascular diseases affect
more than 29 million Americans, especially among the
elderly, and are the direct cause of more than half of all
deaths occurring each year in the United States. While
their economic toll in terms of lost wages, productivity,
and cost of medical care can be estimated at nearly $44
billion annually, the toll in terms of human suffering
can never be measured.
America's continuing determination to meet any
challenge to the well-being of its people is illustrated
by the dedication that has characterized its efforts
to control these disorders. Sustained research and
clinical advances since 1950 have contributed substan-
tially to declining mortality rates for stroke, rheumatic
fever, coronary and congenital heart disease, and hyper-
tension. Our investment in research, public and pro-
fessional education, and community service activities has
been rewarded. In that same time, the mortality rate in
the United States from all heart and blood vessel diseases
has declined by 30 percent. In 1975, deaths in this
country from major cardiovascular diseases dropped below
one million for the first time since 1967.
This multi-faceted assault on heart and blood vessel
diseases has been led by the National Heart, Lung, and
Blood Institute, a federal agency, and by the American
Heart Association, a private health organization funded
through contributions from citizens across the country.
Their successful efforts illustrate what can be achieved
when public and private institutions -- and the American
people as well -- join forces against a common threat.
In recognition of the necessity for constant vigilance
against the ravages of cardiovascular disease, and to en-
courage still greater efforts to combat its threat to the
Nation's health, the Congress, by joint resolution approved
December 30, 1963 (77 Stat. 843; 36 U.S.C. 169b) has
requested the President to issue annually a proclamation
designating February as American Heart Month.
more
2
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. FORD, President of the
United States of America, do hereby proclaim the month of
February, 1977, as American Heart Month. I invite the
Governors of the States, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico,
the officials of other areas subject to the jurisdiction
of the United States, and the American people, to join
with me in reaffirming our commitment to resolving the
nationwide problem of cardiovascular disease.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord nineteen
hundred seventy-seven, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and first.
GERALD R. FORD
# # #