[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 102 (Wednesday, June 15, 2022)]
[House]
[Page H5553]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       GOD BLESS FIRST RESPONDERS AND MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS

  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 recognize 
the first responders in Uvalde. It has been 22 days since the terrible 
incident in Uvalde occurred, and many of the discussions have been 
about the victims. I will talk about some of the survivors. Some of 
those survivors are first responders.
  In particular, one gentleman, Javier Martinez, is a lieutenant for 
the Uvalde Police Department. He was one of the first people on the 
scene. He engaged with the shooter. He was actually wounded. He goes in 
there and he clears the room.
  But afterwards he wasn't done. There are a lot of copycat threats, 
and Javier Martinez, even though he was going through all that, went 
down to the high school, and he secured the high school. The next day, 
he was on duty. He put his uniform on, and he went to work the next day 
and the next day.
  There are many stories just like this. When the fire happened, 
everyone ran to the incident, and they didn't stop. Some of the law 
enforcement officers, Border Patrol agents, after they got done 
clearing that room, they went to other elementary schools. There are 
seven elementary schools in Uvalde. This happened days on.

  I mention that because while the community of Uvalde, while my 
district is healing, there are all these heroes that are walking among 
us.
  Another person I will mention is Ann. Ann is the director of the ER 
there in Uvalde. She helped save lives.
  There are so many people that have just helped. After the cameras are 
gone, after everyone stops listening or even remembering what happened 
in Uvalde, we will be there as one community coming together.
  Over a year ago, my community asked me for a mental health hospital. 
Last year, we secured $2 million for that. When I hosted the President 
a couple weeks ago, we asked for $23 million on that. Mental health is 
at the core of all of this. There is a mental health crisis not only in 
Uvalde, but I would argue across the country. We have to make sure that 
we are devoting the resources necessary to protect our children, to 
protect ourselves.
  My whole community of Uvalde, I would argue, needs mental health 
assistance right now. A lot of us are getting that. My own staff, 
essentially, we turned into a FEMA office, and we were dealing with all 
these crises.
  Someone reminded me yesterday that I essentially have relived this 
crisis 22 days now. A lot of us are in that exact same boat. I mention 
that to say, we have to get rid of this stigma behind mental health. We 
have to realize all of us, from a young age to an old age, go through 
things in life, and we need mental health professionals in order to get 
through that.
  Today, I thank all the first responders in Uvalde for everything they 
are doing, the men and women, just like Javier Martinez, who put their 
uniform on, go to work. There are heroes walking among us that 
sometimes get forgotten. They are not forgotten today nor every other 
day. God bless them.

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