{"id":36438,"date":"2024-10-03T15:12:05","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T20:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/?p=36438"},"modified":"2024-10-03T15:12:30","modified_gmt":"2024-10-03T20:12:30","slug":"usps-honors-health-care-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/2024\/10\/03\/usps-honors-health-care-heroes\/","title":{"rendered":"USPS Honors Health Care Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Thank<\/figure>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 1-\/3\/24 – Together with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Postal Service today paid tribute to the health care community with a new commemorative Forever stamp. The Thank You Healthcare Community stamp is on sale now at Post Offices nationwide and online at usps.com\/shopstamps<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

A special dedication ceremony was held at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Hubert H. Humphrey building in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Thank You Healthcare Community stamp is special \u2013 it recognizes the tremendous work by all health workers across the country. And it comes with our memory of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the critical role that health workers played, still fresh in our minds,\u201d said Xavier Becerra, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. \u201cHaving a stamp issued to commemorate the work of those across the health sector is a tremendous honor. It is an honor that is well deserved.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe understand the importance of recognizing those in the helping professions because that\u2019s how we think of the Postal Service. Like those in the health care community, our employees are also committed to serving others,\u201d said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. \u201cThey know the habits of their customers and the rhythms of their communities. They are often the first to notify emergency personnel when something is wrong, and because they are literally on every street in every neighborhood, they can often provide initial comfort and care before first responders arrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeJoy was joined by Dr. Loretta Christensen, chief medical officer, Indian Health Services, and Dr. Andrea Anderson, associate professor and associate chief of the division of family medicine, George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences.<\/p>\n

News about the stamp is being shared on social media using the hashtag\u00a0#ThankYouHealthcareStamp<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

Employing nearly 16 million people, health care is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the United States. It encompasses physicians, surgeons, dentists, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, lab technicians, orderlies, home health aides, hospital custodians and emergency medical workers, among others. It also includes public health professionals such as epidemiologists, microbiologists and data analysts. These essential workers spend their days \u2014 and nights \u2014 in hospitals, clinics, private offices, laboratories, nursing homes and rehabilitation centers, patients\u2019 homes, and other settings. The biggest health care occupation by far is nursing; almost 23 percent of all health care workers are registered nurses.<\/p>\n

Health care workers are our family, friends and neighbors. Overall, about 80 percent are women, and the percentages are even higher for nursing and many other occupations within the sector. Until the 1970s, very few women became physicians, but then the numbers started to climb, reaching about 12 percent by 1980. Today, about 39 percent of physicians and surgeons are women.<\/p>\n

Facing sick, injured and dying patients \u2014 and distraught family members \u2014 on a daily basis can be tremendously challenging, but health care workers also experience considerable rewards. Research shows that scientists, doctors and nurses are some of the most highly respected professionals due to their dedication to helping other people.<\/p>\n

Likewise, job satisfaction is high for many members of the health care community because they are able to make a difference in the lives of others, connect with people and find solutions to sometimes complex problems. The work is not boring, and it can be fascinating. Practitioners often have opportunities to move around within the field, for example, to another specialty or setting. Importantly, as our country\u2019s population continues to age, the need for health care workers remains high.<\/p>\n

Stamp Design<\/strong><\/p>\n

The stamp artwork consists of health-related icons spelling out the stacked words \u201cthank you\u201d against a pristine white background. Running across the lower right edge of the stamp are the words \u201cHealthcare\u201d in gray and \u201cCommunity\u201d in surgical green.<\/p>\n

On the top line:<\/p>\n

T is a medical caduceus, a symbol commonly used in the health care field, for example, in the seal for the U.S. Public Health Service. This caduceus consists of two dark-green snakes coiled around a gray staff topped by a pair of gray wings. (The \u201crod of Asclepius,\u201d with a single coiled snake, is the original symbol for the field of medicine; however, in the United States, the caduceus has been associated with medicine\/health care for more than a century.)<\/p>\n

H is the traffic sign used to indicate a nearby hospital, a white H set in a dark-blue rectangle.<\/p>\n

A is a black microscope seen from the side.<\/p>\n

N is a surgical-green capital N, representing nurses, the biggest health care occupation.<\/p>\n

K is formed by three tan-colored adhesive bandages \u2014 the type used for a skinned knee.<\/p>\n

On the second line:<\/p>\n

Y is a stethoscope with black tubing and stainless steel or aluminum alloy aural tubes.<\/p>\n

O is a medical heart icon \u2014 a red heart with a jagged white electrocardiogram tracing across it.<\/p>\n

U is a pair of cupped hands, the icon commonly used to indicate support and protection, rendered in blue.<\/p>\n

Running across the lower right edge of the stamp are the words \u201cHealthcare\u201d in gray and \u201cCommunity\u201d in surgical green. \u201cUSA\u201d and \u201cFOREVER,\u201d in gray, appear stacked in the lower left corner.<\/p>\n

Bryan Duefrene was the art director and stamp designer.<\/p>\n

The Thank You Healthcare Community stamp will be issued in panes of 20. As a Forever stamp, it will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 1?ounce price.<\/p>\n

A video about the stamps will be posted after today\u2019s event on the Postal Service\u2019s Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter, pages at\u00a0facebook.com\/USPS<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0x.com\/usps<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Postal Products<\/strong><\/p>\n

Customers may purchase stamps and other philatelic products through the\u00a0Postal Store<\/em><\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0usps.com\/shopstamps<\/em><\/a>, by calling 844-737-7826, by mail through\u00a0USA Philatelic<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or at Post Office locations nationwide. For officially licensed stamp products, shop the\u00a0USPS Officially Licensed Collection on Amazon<\/em>.<\/a>\u00a0Additional information on stamps, first-day-of-issue ceremonies and stamp-inspired products can be found at\u00a0StampsForever.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

###<\/p>\n

\n

The United States Postal Service is an independent federal establishment, mandated to be self-financing and to serve every American community through the affordable, reliable and secure delivery of mail and packages to 167 million addresses six and often seven days a week. Overseen by a bipartisan Board of Governors, the Postal Service is implementing a 10-year transformation plan,\u00a0Delivering for America<\/em><\/a>, to modernize the postal network, restore long-term financial sustainability, dramatically improve service across all mail and shipping categories, and maintain the organization as one of America\u2019s most valued and trusted brands.<\/p>\n

The Postal Service generally receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 1-\/3\/24 – Together with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Postal Service today paid tribute to the health care community with a new commemorative Forever stamp. The Thank You Healthcare Community stamp is on sale now at Post Offices nationwide and online at usps.com\/shopstamps. A special dedication ceremony was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36439,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking","category-usps-news","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36438"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36441,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36438\/revisions\/36441"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/postalemployeenetwork.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}