January 24-30, 2021: Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists Week

WHEREAS, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) are essential to America’s health care system, providing high-quality, cost-effective anesthesia care for more than 150 years and safely administering more than 49 million anesthetics to patients each year; and,

WHEREAS, CRNAs are the primary providers of anesthesia care in rural America, enabling health care 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, including traditional hospital surgical suites and obstetrical delivery rooms, the offices of dentists, podiatrists, ophthalmologists, and plastic surgeons, ambulatory surgical centers, and U.S. Military and Public Health Services and Veterans Administration medical facilities; and,

WHEREAS, nurse anesthetists have been the main providers of anesthesia care to U.S. military personnel, first providing anesthesia to wounded soldiers during the Civil War. They have served on the front lines since WWI, including current conflicts in the Middle East; and,

WHEREAS, nurse anesthetists have played a critical role in the COVID-19 pandemic in allocating necessary resources and providing life-saving care;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Gretchen Whitmer, governor of Michigan, do hereby proclaim January 24-30, 2021 as Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists Week in Michigan and encourage all my fellow citizens to join me in recognizing these outstanding health care professionals for their contribution in adding to the quality of life in our country.