Proclamation 6168—Home Health Aide Week, 1990

Home health aides, employed by some 5,600 home care organizations throughout the United States, are key members of the teams of health care professionals and volunteers who provide needed services for ill and disabled Americans. Today, approximately half a million men and women serve as home health aides. These workers enable their clients to enjoy the comfort and security of their own homes while obtaining needed personal care and support services.

Home health aides help their clients to perform some of the essential tasks of daily living, such as bathing. They help to maintain a clean and safe home environment for their clients and provide various rehabilitative and support services. They also observe a client's progress and report significant changes in his or her condition to other home care team members. The widespread use of training and competency evaluations for home health aides -- such as those prepared by the Foundation for Hospice and Home Care -- ensures that these activities are carried out with a high degree of professionalism.

Home health aides have enabled many ill and disabled Americans to avoid or delay the need for admission to a nursing home or other institution. Giving ill and impaired individuals the opportunity to remain in their own homes, surrounded by the love and support of family and friends, home care helps to maintain both their emotional and physical well-being. Home care has also proved to be cost-effective. For example, New York State's Nursing Home Without Walls Program has demonstrated that clients who would otherwise be in a nursing facility can be cared for at home for about half the cost.

Although home health aides care for many ill or disabled persons who are younger than 65, most of their clients are elderly. With the aging of the American population, the need for home health aides is likely to increase dramatically. The Department of Health and Human Services reports that people age 65 or older currently represent 12 percent of the population; by the year 2030, they will represent 21 percent. Today, people over age 84 are among one of the fastest growing age groups in the country.

Home health aides -- along with the staffs of the home health agencies, homemaker organizations, and hospices that employ them -- deserve recognition and encouragement. They play an important role in maintaining the dignity and independence of millions of Americans, and, this week, we salute them for their dedication and hard work.

In grateful recognition of those who serve as home health aides, the Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 343, has designated the week of August 13 through August 19, 1990, as "Home Health Aide Week" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this week.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week of August 13 through August 19, 1990, as Home Health Aide Week. I call upon the people of the United States to observe this week with appropriate programs and activities.

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

GEORGE BUSH