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Giffords Off Respirator a Week After Shooting

   VOA News  15 January 2011

   Doctors   have   removed   Congresswoman  Gabrielle  Giffords  from  a
   respirator,  a  week  after she was shot in the head while speaking to
   constituents in Arizona.
   In  a  statement  Saturday,  hospital officials said doctors performed
   surgery  Saturday  to  replace  the  breathing  tube threaded down her
   throat with one inserted in her windpipe.
   Giffords  was  already  breathing  on  her own, but the respirator and
   breathing  tube  helped  protect against fluid gathering in her lungs.
   Doctors  said  removing  the  respirator  would  give them a chance to
   assess Gifford's ability to speak after the brain injury.
   The  hospital statement said doctors had also given Giffords a feeding
   tube.   It  said  both  procedures are common for patients with brain
   injuries.
   It  is  exactly  a  week  since  a gunman attacked Giffords as she was
   holding a pubic meeting outside a supermarket in Tucson.
   A  crowd gathered Saturday at the supermarket to remember the victims,
   including the six who were killed .
   At  10:11  local  time (1711 UT) Saturday, the exact time the shooting
   began a week ago, about 100 people observed a moment of silence near a
   makeshift memorial outside the supermarket.
   Earlier  that  morning,  the supermarket had reopened for business for
   the first time since the deadly incident.
   U.S.  President  Barack  Obama  marked the day by urging Democrats and
   Republicans to come together to tackle the nation's challenges.
   He  said  both  parties  must  work  together,  "because before we are
   Democrats or Republicans, we are Americans."
   Republican  Representative  Jeff  Flake  of Arizona also discussed the
   shooting  in  this  week's  Republican  address.  He called the attack
   "horrific,"  but  said  lawmakers  will  not  let it prevent them from
   fulfilling their duty to listen and represent.

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