Written by Bill Bittar
Greg Humpal, a registered nurse at St. Vincent's Medical Center, has seen the often gruesome aftermath of crashes involving drunk drivers.
Last week, he showed a group of young people from the Stratford Police Department's Explorer Post the tools of his trade inside the hospital's trauma room.
Humpal explained how he sometimes has to cut a crash victim's clothes off, insert a tracheal breathing tube down their throats, pump their stomachs, inflate punctured lungs and insert catheters so they can go to the bathroom.
"I do this to keep young people out of here — at least off the stretcher," said Humpal.
Humpal's presentation was for the Teen Education on Drinking and Driving (TEDD) program, which St. Vincent's has been doing for close to 20 years, according to Mary Silvestri, a clinical nurse.
"The program is run out of our Trauma Department," Silvestri said.
She said Masuk High School and Lauralton Hall students, Girl Scout troops and members of Students Against Drunk Driving are among some of the participants in TEDD.
"We show them the Emergency Department, operating room and intensive care unit," she said. "There is a slide presentation and a police officer talks."
Last Thursday night the officer who spoke was Monroe Police Lt. Brian McCauley.
Stratford police officers Alec Voccola and Jen Murolo brought their Explorer Post Thursday.
Voccola said he has brought the Explorer Post for the last three years and before that, as the school resource officer for Wooster Middle School, he used to bring students to participate in TEDD.
Sobering Facts
Silvestri started off Thursday's program by sharing facts and figures on teenage drinking and driving. Among them were:
- In 2009, 3,000 teenagers in the U.S. were killed in motor vehicle accidents, and two-thirds of the deaths involved passengers of teen drivers.
- 25 percent of the cases involved a male driver between the ages of 15-20 with a blood alcohol level of .08 or higher.
- 56 percent of the crashes occurred on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
- Teenagers have the lowest rate of seat belt usage and 3 out of 4 teens who die in car crashes were not wearing their seat belt.
Those engaging in distracted driving — such as fiddling with the radio, eating and talking or texting on the phone — are at 23 times higher risk of being involved in a crash.
When driving 55 m.p.h. and sending or receiving a text (which takes an average of 4.6 seconds), Silvestri said your vehicle will have traveled the length of a football field. She compared it to driving that far with your eyes closed.
Longterm Consequences
Everyone involved with TEDD does not refer to car crashes involving DUI or distracted driving as accidents, because they say were caused by "stupid mistakes".
Silvestri showed Explorer Post members harrowing photos from crash scenes during her talk.
Even in cases where someone survives a crash, Silvestri says there can be longterm consequences.
"If you suffer a major pelvic fracture, do you think you can walk again?" Silvestri asked. "Do you think this is a quick fix? You'll need several surgeries. It may leave you with a shortened limb and you may not be able to run and play sports. So these injuries, you may survive them, but they can be life-changing."
Other injuries Silvestri has seen are multiple facial fractures from heads hitting the steering wheel when drivers aren't wearing their seat belts, and brain injuries and fractured spines that could lead to paralysis.
Bad Decisions
Tyler Cervini, 16, a Masuk High School junior, shared his story of nearly dying from alcohol poisoning on a school trip. Then the group visited Greg Humpal in the trauma room.
Before seeing Dr. Peter A. Ingraldi and surgical technologist Alice McLaine and nurse Mary Jane Bayusik in the operating room, everyone put on scrubs over their clothing.
Dr. Ingraldi said the main reasons why he sees patients rushed to the operating room are because they texting or drinking and driving and "bravado" — Not knowing when to walk or run away from a conflict.
"When we have people with gunshot or stab wounds, very few are innocent bystanders," he said.
The evening ended with a visit to the intensive care unit and withLt. McCauley's discussion of the potential consequences of DUI, substance abuse and distracted driving.
Mary Silvestri said, "I hope you learned some things that will help you to make some good decisions."
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