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Speaker highlights dangers of destructive choices
The room full of eighth graders at Nevada Middle school grew steadily more silent and the students sat motionless in their seats as trauma nurse Pam Holt related a story of a girl who lost her life in a traffic crash, and the friend who’d witnessed the terribile event.
Holt described the crash to illustrate the importance of making choices that won’t put your body in harm’s way, focusing on how passengers can protect themselves, and others, in the vehicle.
In addition to having worked in a burn unit and as a trauma nurse, Holt is a trauma prevention education coordinator with St. John’s hospital in Springfield, Mo. It’s her job to review statistics relating to the causes of traumatic injuries and to develop and present information aimed at educating people of all age groups on how to prevent them.
For example, a geriatric audience might hear information about falls, poisoning and other issues that happen more frequently to people of advancing age. High school students might hear a presentation about vehicle crashes, distracted driving, driving under the influence and more. The middle school students don’t drive, so the presentation for them was tailored to passengers and their role in their own safety and that of others.
Holt used images of accident victims, crash dummy demonstrations, statistics and descriptions of the types of injuries one can suffer in a car crash in an effort to encourage students to put a plan in place to keep themselves safe.
It’s not likely that middle school students will be driving drunk any time soon -- but Holt pointed out that it’s possible they could be asked to get in the vehicle with someone who has been drinking. Worse yet, that driver could be a parent. With photos of an empty car seat from a crash in which a baby was killed by a drunken driver, and an injured child whose own father had been the drunken driver in a crash, Holt urged the students to make a plan, to talk to their parents and let them know they won’t get in the car with them if they’re under the influence. Some students scoffed quietly at the suggestion, but appeared to understand the message.
Holt’s presentation also urged the students against distracting the driver, noting that inattention is the number one cause of traffic crashes. Not wearing a seatbelt takes away a protection. Holt said prior to the presentation that the average hospital bill for someone wearing a seat belt is $9,000; it’s $40,000 for someone not wearing a seat belt.
She explained the physics of crashes, explaining to the students what types of injuries can occur. If an unrestrained person travels up and over other objects in the vehicle, their head is leading them. A blow to the forehead could mean damage to the frontal lobe of the brain, which rules the decision-making process, defines personality and much more. “I can tell you one thing for certain. If you harm your brain, there is no hospital anywhere in the world that can fix it.”
Sliding down and under other surfaces might lead to a broken femur, or to hip dislocation. For the males, she said, this might be of particular concern. “When these parts move this way (gesturing at the hip and femur, moving backward)* ” she said, pausing and raising her eyebrows in an expression of distaste, leaving the rest of what happens to the body up to the imagination.
Holt left the group with one message-- “I hope you will make smart choices,” she said.