2017 Regular Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 72
BY SENATOR MILLS
A RESOLUTION
To designate Thursday, May 18, 2017, as March of Dimes Day at the Louisiana State
Capitol.
WHEREAS, the March of Dimes began as the National Foundation for Infantile
Paralysis in 1938, established by then President Franklin Roosevelt, a victim himself of the
polio virus; and
WHEREAS, Franklin Delano Roosevelt contracted the polio virus in 1921 at the age
of thirty-nine and never walked unassisted again in his life; and
WHEREAS, the Foundation was directed by a close associate of the president, but
its work was accomplished largely by volunteers who organized local March of Dimes
fundraisers nationwide; and
WHEREAS, the purpose of the Foundation was to offer support when polio
epidemics occurred and to fund scientific research regarding the polio virus, intending to
eventually develop a vaccine against the feared disease; and
WHEREAS, during World War II the United States Army received a polio virus
research grant funded by the March of Dimes to investigate the disease as one of those
affecting soldiers fighting in North Africa; and
WHEREAS, in 1946, as a result of extensive efforts by the March of Dimes,
President Franklin Roosevelt was memorialized on newly minted U.S. dimes, forever linking
FDR and the March of Dimes; and
WHEREAS, in 1955 the extensive efforts of the March of Dimes to fund research
regarding polio paid off, and a March of Dimes grantee, Jonas Salk, MD, created the "Salk
vaccine" which was quickly licensed and approved for use to prevent the contraction of
polio. Within months the new cases of polio dropped from tens of thousands to a mere
handful annually in the United States and, eventually, throughout the world; and
WHEREAS, with its original purpose successfully accomplished and with a
prodigious fundraising potential and an army of volunteers, the March of Dimes turned its
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attention to fighting birth defects, funding programs of education intended to promote
healthy pregnancies, and preventing premature births in the U.S.; and
WHEREAS, premature birth is the number one killer of newborns in the first month
of life, with over half a million babies born prematurely every year in this country, including
nearly eight thousand in Louisiana in 2014, representing over twelve percent of all births in
the state; and
WHEREAS, Louisiana received a failing grade in preterm births because one in six
babies are born preterm, with Caddo Parish having the worst preterm birthrate in the nation
with more than eighteen percent of the state's births born preterm in this one parish alone;
and
WHEREAS, on May 18, 2017, March of Dimes volunteers will be visiting the
legislature to raise awareness of the issue of preterm birth and to symbolize hope to
Louisiana families dealing with preterm births or who are working to stay healthy and bring
their babies to full term; and
WHEREAS, from a beginning nearly eighty years ago, largely through the patronage
of President Franklin Roosevelt, himself a victim of polio, to an organization that funded the
grant to Jonas Salk, MD, the discoverer of a vaccine to prevent the disease which has been
effectively eradicated worldwide, to crusades to save babies and bring fewer preterm babies
into the world, the March of Dimes has maintained its legions of volunteers and it is to be
congratulated for the success at fundraising for its twenty-first century issues of premature
birth, healthy pregnancies, and neonatal abstentions critical for mothers in order to carry
healthy babies to full term, the March of Dimes has served this state and nation well and is
deserving of support, respect, and the thanks of a grateful state and nation.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby designate Thursday, May 18, 2017, as March of Dimes Day at the Louisiana
State Capitol.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
Louisiana Chapter of the March of Dimes.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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