Dear editor:
At first, congratulations for your magazine. I read it often and I find it really interesting and close to reality.
This letter is related to one of the articles from "European Heroes", the one talking about Dr. Ervigio Corral Torres, headman of SAMUR (
https://www.time.com/time/europe/hero2004/torres.html), I will try to be brief:
1. SAMUR is not the only Emergency Medical Service at Madrid, we have others, and all of them worked at March 11th bombings as hard as SAMUR:
- SERMAS (SERvicio MAdrileño de Salud, Madrid Health Service, with much more ambulances than SAMUR)
- SUMMA (Servicio de Urgencia Médica de Madrid, Madrid Medical Emergency Service)
- Cruz Roja (Spanish Red Cross)
- Protección Civil (Civil Protection)
2. Due to the high number of injured of the situation, even more services from near areas were called, and their help was really necessary. I mean, saying that SAMUR was the only service that worked on the bombings is inaccurate.
3. Every emergency worker gave his/her best there, but coordination between different services and hospitals was not perfect, and it was not a task performed by SAMUR.
4. We, as emergency workers, were the only one trained to work at this kind of situation, so I think that the real heroes were the citizens that helped at the first moment, the millions of people that went to the demonstrations that evening, and the people that faced the fear of getting the train next days.
If you or your team want to know something more about Madrid bombings please contact me at [....]@hotmail.com . Thank you for your time
Sincerely yours
Emilio [...]
Madrid, Spain
Red Cross Volunteer (Emergency Technician/Radio operator/Instructor)
SUMMA worker (Emergency Technician)
