[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 81 (Thursday, June 23, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 23, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              COMMEMORATING THE U.S. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE

                                 ______


                          HON. HENRY A. WAXMAN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 23, 1994

  Mr. WAXMAN. Mr. Speaker, I want to take a moment to join with my 
colleagues from the Energy and Commerce Committee to acknowledge the 
work of the employees of the U.S. Public Health Service. As we spend 
our time this Congress discussing the problems of financing treatment 
of illness, we sometimes overlook how much illness is actually avoided 
by public health efforts. Immunizations and preventive services, 
primary care clinics, research breakthroughs--these activities not only 
save money, they save lives. In fact, it has been argued by many 
epidemiologists that the true improvements in average American life 
expectancy have come not from hospital care but through the 
improvements in basic public health, biomedical research, and primary 
care. From infectious disease surveillance and prevention to the 
development and licensure of treatments for these diseases to the 
administration of such treatments to poor people, public health 
measures have made the real medical miracles of the 20th century.
  Within the Federal Government, these activities are conducted by the 
U.S. Public Health Service, an agency comprised of several components: 
the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, the 
Food and Drug Administration, the Health Resources and Services 
Administration, the Indian Health Service, the Agency for Health Care 
Policy and Research, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration. These agencies and their staffs have carried on with 
this important work, often without headlines or appreciation but always 
with the clear results of improved public health, primary care, quality 
of life, and life expectancy. I join with my colleagues in introducing 
this measure to commemorate the Public Health Service's history and 
accomplishments and ongoing work.

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