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1993.09.07 :  Confirmation of Dr. Joycelyn Elders

Contact:  Victor Zonana (202) 690-6343
September 7, 1993

     The Department of Health and Human Services issued the
following statements after the U. S. Senate confirmed the 
nomination of Dr. Joycelyn Elders to be Surgeon General.
     "Joycelyn Elders is a sharecropper's daughter who never met
a doctor until she was 16 years old.  Tomorrow, she will be sworn
in as Surgeon General of the United States.  She is the
embodiment of the American Dream, and her courage and
determination will serve this country well in the coming battle
to provide health security to all our citizens,"  said Secretary
Donna E. Shalala.
     "I am, by training and temperament, a healer," Dr. Elders
said.  "It is time to look forward -- not back -- to a time when
all American children are planned and wanted, when all American
children are immunized, when all American citizens have the
security of quality health care, and when all dread diseases are
but a distant and haunting memory."
     Dr. Elders continued:  "I want to thank President Clinton,
Secretary Shalala and Senator Kennedy, and their staffs, for
their strong and unwavering support.
     "I also want to thank the countless individuals who wrote to
me in support, or who stopped me in the street to tell me to hang
in there.
     "Most of all, I want to thank my husband, Oliver, and all
those who believed in me over the years.  I intend to be the
Surgeon General of all Americans." Press; September 15, 1993;
ACF; Visit to Bailey's Elementary School--school readiness
Contact:  David Siegel (202) 401-9215

     U.S. Department of Education Secretary Richard W. Riley on
Monday joined HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala in a visit to the
Bailey's Elementary School, Fairfax County, Virginia, to
highlight the Clinton Administration's commitment to high quality
school reform and achieving the National Education Goals.
     The visit to the Bailey School -- which operates a Head
Start Public School Transition Project -- underscored the
Administration's commitment to National Education Goal #l: 
School Readiness -- By the Year 2000, all children in America
will start school ready to learn.
     "Educating America's children is the responsibility of
everyone who cares about the future of this country.  We all must
assure that children receive a high quality education," said
Secretary Shalala.  "This Head Start Public School Transition
Project is providing Head Start-like services to help younger
children and their families sustain the gains they achieved while
in Head Start and to smooth their way into elementary school."
     Secretary Riley said, "Quality education is not only the
business of the Education Department, but of every Department in
this Administration. I also want to emphasize the need for all 
parent's to take an interest in their children's schooling.  Just
an hour an evening will make an enormous difference in a child's
life."
     The Fairfax County Head Start Transition Project is one of
32 programs across the country that are demonstrating successful
community approaches to supporting children and their families as
they move from the Head Start program through Kindergarten and
the first three grades of public school.