San Angelo Standard Times
SAN ANGELO, Texas — The calls, text messages and Facebook updates kept coming in to Rosey Velez’s phone late Sunday night. Friends, family and former co-workers wanted to share the news about Osama bin Laden’s death.
| September 11 medics respond By Drew Johnson, EMS1 Editor Few Americans are more connected to the 9/11 attacks than the paramedics, firefighters, and police who rushed into the destruction at New York’s World Trade Center to save the lives of more than 30,000 people. Former New York paramedic Rick Drury, who was among the responders, told ABC Action News he found some measure of closure in the news of bin Laden’s death. “I’m so happy that it’s done with, that it’s over with,” he said. “I just hope that it brings closure to the people who deserve it, back in New York and the people who were affected.” Mark Greczkowski, American Ambulance’s director of operations, spent 30 hours at ground zero in the aftermath of the attacks. He told the Norwich Bulletin that hearing the news of bin Laden’s death was overwhelming, but cautioned that now is a time for reflection, not celebration. “Now that they got him, you have to wonder what’s next, as well,” he said. Ground zero medic Greg Santa Maria also viewed the news of bin Laden’s death as a time for solemn reflection. “It doesn’t bring anyone back, and it doesn’t make the hurt go away, but it certainly brings some closure in some regard,” he told KDLT News in Sioux Falls. For Paramedic Miguel Acevedo, who was taking a course at the New York City Fire Department when he was called to ground zero, the news of bin Laden’s death brought little relief. “There was no real closure,” he said in an interview with the Orlando Sun-Sentinel. “To me, his death is not enough. There are other bad guys out there who need to be dealt with.” As American Ambulance CEO Michael Aliano put it in an interview with the Norwich Bulletin, “Sept. 11 is one of the most impactful events of my life. It’s coming up on 10 years and I feel it. The person responsible is no more.” |
“I think I’ve typed more in the past two hours than I have the past four years,” said Velez, a retired New York City paramedic who was captain for a special operations division at ground zero during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“Every year I wind up crying, but I think I wound up crying more in the last two hours.”
Velez, who lives in San Angelo with his wife and children, runs Sbarro restaurant in the Sunset Mall.
He also is co-founder of Emergency Services Respite Center, which provides counseling services to firefi ghters, paramedics, police officers - anyone with a badge who needs a place to deal with stress from situations job-related or not.
Despite helping first responders cope with their problems through the years, Rosey Velez experiences “survivor guilt” at times as a result of what he went through because of the Sept. 11 attacks.
“I got to know several of the families of those who lost their lives that day, he said. “I may have trouble walking, breathing, but I’m still here. So many of our other guys aren’t here. And what do you say to somebody who has lost a close family member?”
For a month after the Sept. 11 attacks, Velez and his colleagues at FDNY Battalion 49 treated injured rescue workers and dug through the rubble at ground zero for bodies.
In all, Velez lost 23 friends and colleagues, many of whom were his emergency medical students, according to the emergency services respite website.
Hearing a reaction from FDNY Battalion 49 on bin Laden’s death Sunday was uplifting to Velez.
“A bunch of guys at the station house at 49 were literally screaming. Most of the guys that were there (during Sept. 11 attacks) aren’t there anymore, but a bunch of those new guys were clapping,” he said.
Although excited about the death, Velez realizes this is a small victory in the fight against terrorism. He said the death will deliver a serious blow to al-Qaida’s organization, but he is worried that bin Laden has groomed others to carry on his destructive ways.
Another possibility is some internal fighting might spill out where these terrorist sects are in the Middle East, he said.
Either way, Velez said the war on terrorism will continue. He said the death will not be the solution but is a giant leap toward that goal.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of widows because of (bin Laden),” Velez said. For them and him, “it’s the beginning of closure.”
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