Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Day

Proclamation

By the Governor of Alabama

WHEREAS, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) are essential to America’s healthcare system, providing high-quality, cost-effective anesthesia care for over 150 years and who safely administer approximately 40 million anesthetics to patients each year; and

WHEREAS, CRNAs are the primary providers of anesthesia care in rural America, enabling healthcare facilities in these medically underserved areas to offer obstetrical, surgical, and trauma stabilization services. In some states, CRNAs are the sole providers in nearly 100 percent of the rural hospitals; and

WHEREAS, CRNAs practice in every setting in which anesthesia is delivered: traditional hospital surgical suites and obstetrical delivery rooms; the offices of dentists, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, and plastic surgeons; ambulatory surgical centers; U.S. Military and Public Health Services and Veterans Administration medical facilities; and

WHEREAS, Nurse anesthetists have been the main provider of anesthesia care to U.S. military personnel on the front lines since WWI, including current conflicts in the Middle East. Nurses first provided anesthesia to wounded soldiers during the Civil War:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Robert Bentley, Governor of Alabama, do hereby proclaim March 1, 2017, as

Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Day

in the State of Alabama. I urge all my fellow Alabama citizens to join me in recognizing these outstanding healthcare professionals for their contribution in adding to the quality of life in our country.

Given Under My Hand and the Great Seal of the Office of the Governor at the State Capitol in the City of Montgomery on the 1st day of March 2017.

Robert Bentley

Governor