Oklahoma City: Bearing Witness One Year Later

EXECUTIVE MEMO

Oklahoma City: Bearing Witness One Year Later

ince the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, Paul Heath, a GS-12 psychological counselor for the Veterans Affairs Department, has suffered a heart attack and shingles and has attended more than 60 funerals and memorial services. Heath's office has moved six times since the explosion that killed 168 people, 19 of them children.

The blast buried Heath up to his armpits in debris and the heavy, black smoke that rolled in almost immediately made it difficult to see. Nevertheless, he cleared a path out of his office, led one co-worker to safety and returned to the broken building to help carry out another man. He then counseled survivors outside.

As the first anniversary of the explosion approached, Heath was working on five committees preparing events for the occasion. He also helped form the OK City Murrah Building Survivors Association, which he now heads. The association holds gatherings to help survivors and family members of people killed.

In October, the Arizona Republic tallied injuries from the bombing: More than 700 people suffered injuries ranging from brain damage (30 people) to hearing impairment (200). Also, 30 children lost both parents and 200 children lost one parent in the blast.

Heath, who has been counseling veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder for 28 years, says emotional wounds from the bombing are widespread and grievous. Many people still can't sleep through the night. Physical wounds kept some from returning to work until early this year. Those who came back still are rebuilding their lives.

Recovery isn't helped by budget and staff cuts at agencies. A year ago, Heath's office had 11 people. Now five do the same amount of work, he says.

During his Jan. 23 State of the Union address, President Clinton recognized bombing survivor Richard Dean, a Social Security Administration claims representative, who went back into the crumbling Murrah building four times to save three women. Clinton noted that Dean was furloughed during the first shutdown and worked without pay through the second.

Heath will attend the trial of accused bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols in Denver. "I'll go for selected portions of the trial," he says, "because I want the jury to know who I am and that I'm there to represent those 160 friends in the building that died. The audacity of one brazen, self-centered, self-appointed terrorist to come to my town to do what he did is just unforgivable."

On April 19, Heath would like to encircle the Murrah building site with interlocking circles of people. "I want us to give a message to ourselves that hey, we know we're not over it, but we're moving in the right direction," he says. "We're trying to move to the point where the bombing on April 19, 1995 will not be the dominant point in our life.

"On April 19 you can count on me being down on this site trying to do what I've been doing since 9:02 a.m., April 19, 1995: trying to help people."