Local woman can relate to Haiti recovery

TAMPA - As the people of Haiti observe a National Day of Mourning, the work of scouring through tons of rubble and debris goes on. Teams with cadaver dogs are combing through what used to be schools and homes, and for a Bay Area woman and her beloved golden retriever, those images hit very close to home.

Bailey doesn't see or hear as well as he used to, but Eileen Roemer says he's doing pretty well for a 13-and-a-half-year-old dog."He's walking slower. He still loves to eat. He plays with his ball and he still likes to chew on a bone," Roemer said.

It's a retirement well-deserved for the dog she rescued from animal control.

"He was emaciated, he had a lot of fleas and ticks," Roemer said. "His coat was matted. He was dirty. He was in bad shape."

But Bailey thrived in her care... and returned the favor after the attacks of September 11th. Roemer was an FBI agent and Navy reservist on assignment at the Pentagon. Her shift ended at 7:30 that morning.

"The lieutenant commander who relieved me and about 34 [other] people were killed in the Navy command center when the plane hit the Pentagon," Roemer said.

Trained in search and recovery, for the next 12 days, Roemer, Bailey, and her other dog, Riley, combed through twisted, charred debris looking for human remains.

"Never had we been in such an environment where there was jet fuel, explosion, fire and whatever they used to put the fire out, so you had to wonder, 'will the dogs be able to hone in on what they're looking for?' And they did," Roemer said.

Roemer knows firsthand what the canine teams in Haiti are up against: the danger to the dogs and their handlers and why their mission is so important.

"People want to know what happened to their loved ones. They want to be able to give them the respect, the love, the burial and the final closure," said Roemer. "Families need that."

Bailey's story is immortalized in a new book, "To the Rescue: Found Dogs with a Mission."

For Eileen Roemer, her "found" dog has touched her life in ways she couldn't have imagined, and did for so many others too.

"He did it well," she said. "I'm proud of him."