Proclamation 6136—National Trauma Awareness Month, 1990

Because all of us are potential trauma victims, it is fitting that we pause to reflect upon the causes of traumatic injuries, their impact, and how to prevent them.

Each year, traumatic injury claims the lives of at least 150,000 Americans. Many thousands more are severely or permanently disabled.

Young Americans are particularly at high risk. Traumatic injuries kill six times as many children as cancer, the next most common cause of death in children. Four out of five deaths among teenagers and young adults are caused by traumatic injuries -- injuries most often suffered in motor vehicle collisions.

Even among our older citizens, traumatic injury continues to be a major public health problem. The death rate due to falls among persons 75 years or older is nearly 12 times the rate in the general population.

At any age, death or disability from traumatic injury is tragic and almost always preventable. The vast majority of traumatic injuries result from hazards that can be reduced if we use our common sense and take advantage of current knowledge about how traumatic injuries occur. All Americans should learn more about the circumstances and behaviors that lead to traumatic injuries and how they can be avoided.

Every citizen should also learn more about the role of trauma care and rehabilitation in reducing deaths and disability associated with traumatic injury. Effective treatment begins with ambulance and rescue services and hospitals that are capable of providing the high level of care needed by trauma victims. Optimal treatment includes rehabilitation programs and follow-up services that enable injured patients to recover as fully as possible.

Premature deaths, disabilities, and economic costs resulting from traumatic injuries impse a high toll on our Nation. The physical and emotional suffering they inflict upon individuals and their families is incalcuable. Fortunately, however, through the concerted efforts of concerned citizens, health care professionals, scientists, volunteer groups, and leaders in the public and private sectors, we can reduce the heavy burden of traumatic injury on our society. Trauma is every American's business.

To enhance public awareness of traumatic injury, the Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 224, has designated the month of May 1990 as "National Trauma Awareness Month" and has authorized and requested 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 the month of May 1990 as National Trauma Awareness Month. I urge the people of the United States, their government agencies, health care providers, and schools to take part in efforts to prevent traumatic injuries and to provide the best possible emergency treatment and rehabilitation programs for those that do occur. I also urge all Americans to support public and private traumatic injury prevention programs. We can reduce the devastating impact of traumatic injuries on our Nation by supporting research into new ways to prevent and treat them, and by aiding those Americans who suffer the physical, emotional, or financial consequences of traumatic injury.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fourteenth.

GEORGE BUSH