Car crashes are one of the leading causes of death in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties. As a Level 1 Trauma Center, Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin are committed to community injury prevention education.
After long hours of preparation, meetings and coordination, the Froedtert & The Medical College of Wisconsin Trauma Program will be hosting another mock car crash,
Forever Changed. The goal is to reach high school juniors and seniors about drinking, driving and risk-taking behaviors.
Working with the high school, the school track becomes a staged two-car collision involving a driver under the influence and another on a cell phone. Using five student actors as the drivers and passengers, they are staged in and on the cars to simulate a crash scene. The scene is played out in real time. The city police officers "respond" to the collision and assess the situation. EMS dispatches the fire trucks and ambulances. They place the teen victims on backboards and in c-collars. Flight for Life arrives on scene to flight the student with a spinal cord injury. That student even gets a real ride in helicopter!
The police perform a field sobriety test on the suspected impaired driver, which will be positive. That student will be frisked, and placed in handcuffs and driven off in the squad car.
There is a fatality staged at the scene as well. The medical examiner arrives and documents the scene. Once the documentation is completed, the student will be placed in a body bag and taken away by the medical examiner. The students will then be dismissed from the mock crash and return to their classes.
In the afternoon, the junior and senior students are reassembled. The student actors appear moulaged according to their sustained injuries. One actor is placed in a halo and wheelchair because of the spinal cord injury, moving only his eyes to make it as realistic as possible. Another actor is placed in a walking boot and has an external fixator for her bone injuries. The student that is placed under arrest for his driving under the influence is in the county jail orange jumpsuit with shackled ankles and handcuffs.
The most disturbing is the young actor who is "dead" at the scene. She is not present at the second assembly until the end. During the second assembly, a trauma nurse clinician describes the injuries sustained and the impact of each injury on the individual. There is an outstanding video played regarding drinking and driving, and how your life will be "forever changed." A parent of the "deceased" student writes a letter to their child about what life would be like without them. The student additionally writes a letter regarding what she would miss in her life. There will not be a dry eye in the gym.
The hope and purpose of this educational offering is if even one life is saved from injury or death, it is a success. It will be a "Forever Change" for the positive.