Health Report.On Saturday in Tucson, Arizona,a gunman opened fire on a small crowdmeeting outdoors with a congresswoman.Six people were killedand fourteen were wounded,including the representative,Gabrielle Giffords.The bullet traveledalong the left side of her brainas it went in one side of her headand came out the other.Doctor Leigh Vinocuris a nationally known expertin emergency medicine.She says the path thatthe bullet took was luckyfor the forty-year-old congresswoman.LEIGH VINOCUR: "And thenwhen the neurosurgeon described thatit appeared the nervesto her eye were OK,I just think it could have been worse.You know, if it's any lower,it hits your respiratory centerand you die immediately.You worry about motor function,and it appears that she's movingher extremities.We don't know how her speech will be,because the temporal lobedoes affect speech.She certainly is following commands."On Tuesday doctors saidRepresentative Giffords was breathingwithout the aid of a machine.But she remained in critical condition.Doctor Vinocur praisedthe college intern who gavethe congresswoman first aid.Daniel Hernandez had trainedin high school as a nurse's assistant.But Doctor Vinocur sayspeople have to be extra carefulabout putting pressureon bleeding head wounds.LEIGH VINOCUR: "So you can put pressureon the scalp, which does bleed a lot,to sort of stem that bleeding.But you want to be carefulto make sure you're not pushing braintissue back in through the hole,you're not pushing fragments of bone.Or if there were metal bullet fragmentsthat were left in the entranceor exit wound, you don't want topush those back into the brain."Doctor Peter Rhee, trauma chiefat the University Medical Centerin Tucson, says he expectsRepresentative Giffords to survive.She has been following simple commands,like moving her toes, squeezing a handand giving the thumbs-up sign.But no one knows yet how wellshe might recover.Doctors have temporarily removedabout half of her skull to ease pressure.Doctor Rhee operated on the congresswomanand also treated other victimsof the shooting attack.He says his work as a Navy surgeonin the wars in Iraq and Afghanistanprepared him well.In fact, emergency medicine specialistLeigh Vinocur saysthat specialty grew outof military medicinedating back to World War One.LEIGH VINOCUR: "The lessonsthat we learn on the battlefieldare the things that have translated.And we have made such great strides,even within this last war,of saving people."Doctor Vinocur teaches at the Universityof Maryland medical schooland speaks for the American Collegeof Emergency Medicine.The young suspect chargedin the shooting had been acting strangely.Last year he was suspendedfrom a community collegebecause of his behavior.But he was legally able tobuy the handgun used in the shooting.And that's the VOA Special EnglishHealth Report,written by Caty Weaver.