[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 152 (Friday, November 22, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2120]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    HONORING DR. MARTIN EICHELBERGER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, November 22, 2002

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Martin Eichelberger is a Professor of 
Surgery and of Pediatrics at George Washington University and Director 
of Emergency Trauma and Burn Service at the Children's National Medical 
Center, in Washington, DC. He is also president and cofounder of the 
National SAFE KIDS Campaign, and a nationally recognized pediatric 
trauma surgeon.
  The reason Dr. Eichelberger is so highly regarded became evident on 
Monday, October 7, when he was called out of a skin graft surgery to 
begin preparing for a 13-year-old shooting victim who was on his way to 
Children's Hospital from the Bowie Health Center. The boy had been shot 
by the Washington-area snipers in front of Benjamin Tasker Middle 
School, and the dozens of fragments from the sniper's bullet had done 
extensive and life-threatening damage to a number of the boy's vital 
organs.
  Dr. Eichelberger and his team immediately began to make critical 
decisions about which organs could be saved, and which ones were beyond 
repair and needed to be removed. The right decisions were made, and the 
two and a half hour operation saved the boy's life. Although this brave 
young man faces a long and challenging road to recovery, I am pleased 
to report that he has been released from the hospital, and I am hopeful 
that he will in fact make a full recovery from his injuries.
  Mr. Speaker, this 13-year-old young man is one of the countless 
youngsters who have been touched by the gifts of Mr. Eichelberger and 
whose lives have been saved or made better by his compassionate 
dedication to public service. The 1989 United Nations Convention on the 
Rights of the Child states that ``Mankind owes to the child the best it 
has to give.'' I am proud to say that in Dr. Eichelberger, we have 
given Washington area youngsters the best we have.

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