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REMARKS BY: TOMMY G. THOMPSON, SECRETARY OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES PLACE: Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Annual Convention, Atlanta, Georgia DATE: September 22, 2001
The Hispanic Chamber speaks to what is best about America . about the energy and innovation of Americans of Hispanic descent . and about the hope and opportunity all of us find, each day, in this amazing country.
I'm pleased to see my friends Maria Cameron and George Franco of the Milwaukee Hispanic Chamber here tonight. We worked together to urge the leaders of the Hispanic Chamber to hold a future convention in Milwaukee . and in 2005, that's going to happen. Milwaukee was chosen over Chicago or Cleveland, two wonderful cities. But we won over George and the board with our Wisconsin charm. I know it will be a wonderful event, just as this convention is.
We meet tonight in the wake of great sadness. Yet the terrorist acts of last week have drawn all Americans together by reminding us of our common values, our common dreams and our common love for our country.
America is a nation that lives in hope. We have come here because this country is a beacon of freedom. Here, the people rule. And here, every person can live in liberty to fulfill his or her God-given abilities.
As Abraham Lincoln said, America is "the last, best hope of man on earth." Tonight, we all share that hope. And I'm here to say, on behalf of the President of the United States, that America's vision of freedom and justice for all will never be thwarted.
I've been to New York and to the Pentagon. In New York, I met with Mayor Giuliani and Governor Pataki. I visited the shattered buildings and meet with the men and women who have worked tirelessly to recover victims, heal the injured and care for those in shock and pain.
I saw the spirit of America in those brave men and women, and let me report to you tonight, that spirit is alive and well. In the words of Scripture, they are not letting evil overcome them - they are overcoming evil with good.
So, while there are no words for the sorrow we feel, there are also no ways to measure the resolve we have found. Thursday night, President bush marshaled our already united nation. He explained who our enemies are and how we will respond to their attacks.
As he put it, "Our grief has turned to anger, and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice, or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done."
Our enemies are devious, but they are not faceless. They will run in fear. But they will hide in vain. Today, we are not Republicans or Democrats, Irish Americans or German Americans, African Americans or Hispanic Americans. We honor our ancestry, but our pride is in our country.
We hail from states as diverse as Nevada and New Jersey, Wisconsin and Florida. But we are one people, united by the bonds of conviction and courage. We are simply Americans.
The President has called us to patience . to quiet but implacable firmness . and to dedication to a great task - nothing less than crushing the network of global terrorism.
That is our calling and our challenge. We have heard the calling. And as we always have throughout the history of our Republic, we will - with God's help - meet the challenge.
Yet even in our pain, we are moving forward. That's where groups like the Hispanic Chamber come in. In every sphere of professional endeavor, Hispanic Americans are creating jobs, building communities and strengthening the economy.
It's fitting you are meeting now, as this is Hispanic Heritage Month, a time of celebration for all Americans. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, I am so impressed by what Hispanic Americans have done in the health care arena. One need not look far to find substantial achievement.
For example, Dr. Severo Ochoa, former chairman of the biochemistry department at New York University, won a Nobel Prize in 1959 for medicine for discovering how to develop a substance called RNA in a test tube.
RNA fosters cell function, and helps us better understand cell health and disease. Dr. Ochoa's groundbreaking work set the stage for research that continues today. And there are many other Hispanic Americans - too many to count - who have touched our lives and strengthened our country.
But just as your contributions are many, so is your culture diverse. Hispanic Americans come from places ranging from Mexico to Chile, from Puerto Rico to Cuba. Persons of Hispanic origin now compose 12 percent of all Americans, and if current trends continue, by mid-century, one in every four Americans will have a Spanish-speaking heritage. That's a wonderful thing, because Spanish is one of the most beautiful languages in the world.
On Monday, I'm speaking to the Pan-American health organization, which has many Spanish-speaking member nations. Along with other members of the U.S. delegation, I'm looking forward to welcoming PAHO to Washington and working with health ministers in our hemisphere on critical health issues.
And just as health concerns transcend borders, economic leadership in our own country transcends regions or party affiliations. That's why your contribution to our economic growth is critical.
Economic growth does not occur in a vacuum. Our economic viability depends on the well being of our citizens. That means we have to take better care of ourselves and that every American should have access to quality, affordable health care.
To help achieve those goals, we need more Hispanic physicians and nurses, men and women who work within Hispanic communities at health centers and clinics and hospitals to help some of the most underserved people in our society.
As leaders of the Hispanic business community, you can play a role in encouraging your young people to undertake careers in medicine. Let me urge you to do so tonight.
Many of the most seriously underserved live along our nation's borders. That's why, next month, I'll be traveling to our southern border. I'm the American chairman of the U.S.-Mexico Border Health Commission, which was established last year to provide better health care to the people who live along our border with Mexico. We're going to do everything we can to make them healthy, contributing members of our society. So, I'm going to our border area to review the region's health conditions firsthand.
Tonight, I want you to be the first group to know that the commission has developed a realistic set of health objectives for people who live near our southern border to help them overcome the chronic illnesses all too typical of their area.
We'll be releasing the objectives next month. We've received funding to help achieve them by 2010. This effort is being launched in tandem with the government of Mexico and with the state governments of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.
We've already opened a border commission office in El Paso, Texas and Congress has approved funds to get the initiative underway. We're serious about this effort. Quality care for people in need should not be merely a dream. It should be a reality.
Helping the poor along our border underscores another need - that of the overall health of all Americans for the sake of a strong economy. You are an audience of entrepreneurs and employers, of business leaders and investors. Both employers and employees need to be healthy to perform well and be productive.
To that end, the President and I are committed to addressing the need for lower health insurance premiums. Let me be frank: We all know that the premiums have to come down. Lower premiums mean that more Americans get health coverage, and that means a stronger workforce for your businesses. President Bush and I will work with you to get this done.
A healthier workforce is also one of the main reasons President Bush is committed to aggressively addressing health issues affecting persons of Hispanic descent. Earlier this month, the Mexican minister of health and I signed a cooperative arrangement to enhance the safety of the food supplies in both nations.
The arrangement will help reduce the incidence of food-borne illnesses on both sides of the border through improved inspections. This agreement marks an important new era in the food safety efforts of Mexico and the U.S. It recognizes the strong commercial bond between Mexico and the United States. And it will enable more Americans to enjoy wonderful Mexican fruit and other food.
Ensuring the quality of our food supply is only one reflection of our commitment to meeting the health needs of America's minority communities - a commitment shown clearly in President Bush's budget priorities.
For the next fiscal year, the President has requested $5.7 billion to fund research and initiatives related to minority health. Included in this is $158 billion - a 20 percent increase - in funding for the National Institute of Health's National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
This funding is important because of the needs of the Hispanic community. For example, in 1998, of the 30 million Hispanic Americans, about 1.2 million had been diagnosed with diabetes. It is estimated that as many as 675,000 Hispanic Americans have undiagnosed diabetes. Up to 30 percent aged 50 or older have diabetes, and many are unaware of their condition.
Preventive health care is absolutely critical for the Hispanic community. That's true not just for diabetes, but also for asthma, which affects millions of Hispanic Americans, and obesity. Diabetes is linked to obesity, as are heart disease and other serious ailments. And fully sixty percent of all Americans weigh too much.
The results of these patterns are disturbing. Unhealthy diets, overeating and sedentary behavior account for roughly 300,000 deaths in the United States every year.
But there's good news. Recently, my department completed a study showing that reasonable changes to diet and exercise habits can reduce the risk of developing adult-onset diabetes by almost 60 percent. Soon, we'll be launching our nationwide preventive health campaign. We're excited about this campaign because with modest effort, each of us can do so much to improve the quality of our lives and health of our bodies.
Please join me in this campaign. By modestly changing our diets, quitting smoking and walking 30 minutes a day, we can add years to our lives and help ensure better health all around.
Encourage your employees to prevent illness by taking these simple steps. Set an example by taking them yourselves. These steps are practical. They work. Let's take them for a healthier America.
We're also focusing on providing quality care to the roughly 38 million Americans who lack health insurance. Many of them are Hispanic Americans. And many of them are children.
More than three million Hispanic children in the U.S. are uninsured. Three-quarters of them live in families whose income is under 200 percent of the federal poverty level. That's unacceptable, and it's going to change.
Since February, I've signed nearly 1,000 waivers that release Medicaid funds to states, providing more than 800,000 more Americans access to health care - more than 600,000 of whom are in new York, and thousands of whom are Hispanic.
The need for waivers would be lessened if we could make health insurance more affordable for working people who don't have health insurance. In my home state of Wisconsin, we developed a program called "BadgerCare" that enables low-income working people to purchase quality health insurance at a cost they could afford.
We need to bring that same approach to lowering health insurance costs nationwide. But right now, one of our main problems is that many Latino families don't know about Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Programs. So, we're developing a Spanish-language communications strategy we plan to launch this fall to help address this problem.
I should also note that AIDS remains problematic in our society, including in the Hispanic community. The President's budget includes a total of $10.2 billion for the treatment, prevention and research of AIDS and H-I-V. About $360 billion of that will be used to help reduce the burden of AIDS on racial and ethnic minorities. This, too, is a battle we have to win.
Finally, let me mention organ donation. In April, my department launched a nationwide campaign to encourage organ donation. There are almost 80,000 Americans waiting for organs. Another 300 people join this list every month.
Last year, nearly 23,000 organs were transplanted, an increase of more than 50 percent since 1990. But the downside is that while transplants have grown 50 percent, the waiting list has grown 250 percent.
In April, we unveiled the Workplace Partnership for Life. The list of partners keeps growing. It's extending to unions, corporations, non-profits and fraternal organizations. It also includes local employers - including, I'm sure, some of your own companies. Everyone has a contribution to make. Working together, we can save lives.
So let me urge you to sign a donor card . talk with your family about your decision to donate the gift of life when you pass away . and to work to get your business to join our Workplace Partnership for Life.
There's a lot more we could discuss, but I'll leave you with a thought from a great American, Everett Alvarez. Lieutenant Alvarez was shot down over Vietnam and served eight and one-half years as a POW. Like Senator Max Cleland, who spoke to you earlier, Everett Alvarez is a true American hero.
As we cope with the threat of terrorism, the words of Lieutenant Alvarez about his imprisonment in Vietnam have a special bearing on the challenges we face. Let me quote them to you: "We never gave up hope . because we had faith--faith in God, in our country, and in ourselves. We have seen the other side, and we know what it is like. Now we are able to fully appreciate our way of life and what we have. We have so much to be thankful for." Those are the words of a hero. Thinking of what Lieutenant Alvarez said, and then looking out at all of you, I'm reminded again of why I'm so proud to be an American.
These are difficult days for our country, but great days, as well. Mindful of our pain, we are not letting it stop us. We are moving ahead. But when you think of it, that's pretty natural for us. After all, we're Americans.
It has been a pleasure being with you. Muchas gracias, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.