Presidential Documents

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 77 / Thursday, April 20, 2000 / Presidential Documents 21113

Proclamation 7292 of April 14, 2000

National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week, 2000

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Organ and tissue transplantation offers us the extraordinary opportunity

to share with others one of our most precious gifts—the gift of life. By

donating tissues and organs, living donors and the families who have lost

loved ones are rewarded with the knowledge that they have saved and

enhanced many lives. Thanks to donors’ generosity and compassion, transplant recipients across our country are able to work, care for their families,

and look forward to a brighter future. Thanks to donors’ selflessness, many

children who were not expected to see their first birthday are playing,

learning to walk, and entering school.

The future of the thousands of Americans awaiting transplants, however,

depends on the willingness of their fellow citizens to become organ and

tissue donors. More than 68,000 patients are on the national organ transplant

waiting list; each day, 13 of them will die because the organs they need

have not been donated; and every 16 minutes, a new name will be added

to that waiting list.

To address this critical and growing need, Vice President Gore and Secretary

of Health and Human Services Shalala launched the National Organ and

Tissue Donation Initiative in December of 1997. This public-private partnership was designed to raise awareness of the success of organ and tissue

transplantation and to educate our citizens about the urgent need for increased donation. Working with partners such as health care organizations,

estate planning attorneys, faith communities, educational organizations, the

media, minority organizations, and business leaders, the Initiative is reaching

out to Americans of all ages, backgrounds, and races, asking them to consider

donation. In its first year alone, the Initiative made a measurable impact,

as organ donation increased by 5.6 percent.

But donations are still falling short nationwide. As we observe National

Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week, I urge all Americans to consider

becoming donors. Becoming a prospective organ and tissue donor is an

easy, two-step process. Potential donors need only indicate their intention

on their driver’s license or donor card, which is available from a number

of organizations by mail or on-line, and notify their families and friends

of their wish to donate. I also encourage organ and tissue recipients to

tell others how their lives and health have changed because of the generosity

of a donor and his or her family; and I join the friends and families

of donors in remembering with pride and gratitude all those who gave

of themselves so that others might live.

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 April 16 through April

22, 2000, as National Organ and Tissue Donor Awareness Week. I urge

all health care professionals, educators, the media, public and private organizations concerned with organ donation and transplantation, and all Americans to join me in promoting greater awareness and acceptance of this

humanitarian action.

21114 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 77 / Thursday, April 20, 2000 / Presidential Documents

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fourteenth day

of April, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the Independence

[FR Doc. 00–10003

Filed 4–19–00; 8:45 am]

Billing code 3195–01–P

of the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.

œ–