[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 81 (Thursday, May 12, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H4864]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    CELEBRATING NATIONAL NURSES WEEK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Tony Gonzales) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TONY GONZALES of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate 
National Nurses Week. We all know a nurse who has helped us throughout 
our time in life, and I am no different.
  My story starts with my grandfather. He had an eighth-grade 
education. He was a rancher. When his country called, he proudly served 
in World War II. He came home and became a civil servant at Kelly Air 
Force Base.
  He went off to raise seven beautiful children. One of those was my 
aunt, who became a nurse. And I have two cousins, Natalie and Sandy, 
who are nurses.
  But the story for me is much more personal than that. Ten days from 
now will be my 3-year anniversary of life. I went into BAMC medical 
facility for a routine procedure. I was intubated incorrectly. I coded. 
I had brain trauma. I had kidney failure. I was in a coma for 3 days. I 
was in the hospital for 23 days.
  I praise God that those nurses at BAMC brought me back to life. In 
particular, there were three nurses: Monica, Alyssa, and Jenna. Alyssa 
was my day nurse. She is the one who kept me alive in the daytime. 
Jenna kept me alive at night. Without nurses, I wouldn't be here.
  Many of us have similar stories. Many of us know of similar stories.
  In this institution, we lose sight sometimes of the everyday people 
who roll up their sleeves and go to work and make this country better. 
This partisanship that divides this country does not happen in the 
nursing world. Nurses don't care who you voted for. They don't care 
about the color of your skin. They don't care who you pray to. They 
care about life and protecting life, all the opportunities for a great 
quality of life.
  I am grateful to all the nurses out there, particularly those serving 
at BAMC.

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