"...
One such man is Nogales Fire Marshal Jesus Gomez.
.... "It was a very humbling experience for me. You look at everything
around you and you think that you can be gone just like that," he
added."
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2005/10/27/news/news4.txt
They are the unsung heroes of our society
By Gabriel R. Romero
Posted: Thursday, October 27, 2005 5:33 PM PDT
They are the unsung heroes of our society. Nurses, doctors and
firefighters. Men and women who put their lives on hold for the sake of
others.
One such man is Nogales Fire Marshal Jesus Gomez.
Gomez, 54, spent two weeks aiding the victims of Hurricane Katrina at
St. Bernard Parish, La.
Gomez was notified of his leave on Sunday, Aug. 27.
"I left on August 30 to Blyth (California) for a pick up. Me and five
other guys picked up a cache of equipment and supply (trucks)," Gomez
said. Gomez said he was briefed on what to expect in terms of victims
and devastation.
Gomez was told to wait for his team, once the vehicles were in Baton
Rouge, La., he said. "Our orders were to take equipment and that was
it, my mission was only for four days. But once there, we were told
that we were going to meet out team in 12 hours and that we would be
there (St. Bernard) for an unknown period of time," he said.
His first attempt to cross through New Orleans and reach his
destination failed.
"The highways were partially flooded so we couldn't cross the first
time, but we did the second," he said.
The team of 35 was made up of doctors, nurse practitioners, non-medical
personnel and paramedics Gomez said.
They were assigned the name of AZ1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team
(DMAT).
Gomez said his team's job, when it reached St Bernard, was to provide
medical help to hurricane victims.
A mobile army surgical hospital was established in a refinery.
Slept in truck
The team slept in a BellSouth Telecommunications building next to the
hospital. Gomez said they were seeing patient's 24 hours a day, seven
days a week.
"We did immunizations all the time. We did them for just about
everything," he said.
Gomez was stationed as the deputy chief of operations. His job was to
make sure everything ran smoothly.
Two escape plans
"Part of our job was to have two escape plans in case we needed to have
an evacuation. One had to be a 15 minute evacuation and the other was
within a timely manner," Gomez said.
Gomez worked with other firefighters as well. "Some of these guys would
wake us up in the middle of the night and want to talk. They were
mentally devastated by what was going on," he said.
The aftermath of the hurricane was what most hit Gomez. "It was total
devastation and desolation. I mean it was overwhelming. They tell you
what you can expect but man, I didn't think I was going to see what I
saw," he said.
President Bush stopped to congratulate Gomez's team. "He stopped in and
shook our hands. He said we were doing a good job," Gomez said.
"It was a very humbling experience for me. You look at everything
around you and you think that you can be gone just like that," he
added.
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First their products make the Hurricanes, then it costs $100,000,000 to
evacuate from the hurricane consuming their products, then they raise
the price of the product because of the hurricane. Apply, lather,
rinse, repeat.
---------
This message is brought to you by Global Warming,
ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron, Cato Institute,
Koch Oil, Tech Central Station, Satan Inc.,
George C. Marshall Inst., Ford and GM.
---------
---------
Additional sponsors of this message are Karl Rove,
Scooter Libby, GOP, George Bush, Rush Limbaugh,
Vice President Halliburton, American Enerprise Inst.,
Competitive Enterprise Inst., Council on Foreign Relations,
Satan Inc., and the World Bank.
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