[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 1978]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    RECOGNIZING AMERICAN HEART MONTH

  (Mr. GIBBONS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GIBBONS. Madam Speaker, in 1963 Congress designated February as 
American Heart Month; and today is Valentine's Day, a day not only 
about flowers and candy, but also about love and family. It is fitting 
that we recognize and congratulate the efforts of the American Heart 
Association and other organizations to reduce the enormous burdens, 
physical, emotional and economic, that heart disease places on American 
families.
  The fact is that an American dies from cardiovascular disease every 
33 seconds killing 1 million Americans annually, about 41 percent of 
all deaths in the United States. Every American, young or old, male or 
female, is at risk.
  Madam Speaker, today I encourage every American to learn the signs of 
cardiac arrest and the causes of cardiac disease. Together we can 
reduce the burden of cardiac disease and its imposition on our families 
so that everyone can celebrate not only this day as Valentine's Day but 
many more in the future.

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