A dose of reality
Photo by CHANSE WATSON Emergency crews work to save the “injured” teens while a Life Flight helicopter lands in the background. Wallace students stretching around the sidewalk on the left watch everything unfold.
Shoshone County Fire District No. 1 crews strap Aby Berger onto a stretcher and remove others from the car as students observe.
All locked-in, Berger is loaded onto a gurney and readied for helicopter transport.
By CHANSE WATSON
Managing Editor
WALLACE — It is a sobering fact that drunk driving-related deaths continue to be prevalent in the state of Idaho and Shoshone County. According to the Center for Disease Control, there were 712 people killed in crashes involving a drunk driver in Idaho between 2003 and 2012. Also in 2012, the rate of deaths by people ages 21-34 (per 100,000 population) for people killed in crashes involving a legally intoxicated driver is 8.7.
Combine this with the knowledge that, according to the 2018 County Health Rankings on Shoshone County, 52 percent of driving deaths that have occurred here over a five-year average involved an alcohol-impaired driver.
With these disconcerting statistics in mind, local emergency services and school officials want to ensure that today’s youth understand the dangers of drinking and driving.
To do this, Shoshone County medical, fire and law enforcement personnel teamed up with Wallace Jr./Sr. High School on Tuesday to stage a mock DUI crash right in front of the building.
Following their lunch hour, an assembly was called where students heard from several speakers on the dangers of drinking and driving. From hard numbers by Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office deputy Dustin Darius and student J.P. Webb, to a tragic personal experience from Tammy Copelan — the students took in all that was said.
Meanwhile, a small crew with Nickerson’s Towing prepared the staged crash scene outside. The students who volunteered to be in the scene also prepared by applying make-up and fake blood to simulate injuries one would sustain in a DUI crash. WHS students Aby Berger, Dawson Angle, Rylie Gunderson and Kayla Slater played the roles of victims in the car that was “hit,” while Zayne Hunter and Dallas Dehart took their spots in the drunk driver car.
With the vehicles and “victims” in place, students left the building after the assembly and began to corral around the scene of the crash. While doing this, the 911 call reporting the incident could be heard by all over the loud speaker.
Emergency crews with Shoshone County Fire District No. 1, the Shoshone County Sheriff’s Office and the Osburn Police Department took part in the production — responding and reacting as if it were a real situation.
OPD Chief Darell Braaten was first to respond and assess the situation, then was quickly joined by medical/fire personnel and other law enforcement officials. Empty beer cans that had been placed in the cars to drive home the point rattled and blew about the street as crews pulled up.
Firefighters/EMTs then took the appropriate steps necessary to determine injuries and exfiltrate the victims. Crews even started up a portable generator to have the Jaws of Life on standby, just in case any of the victims were pinned and could not be reached without rearranging some metal.
One by one, all the victims (with the exception of poor Zayne Hunter — the “operator” of the drunk driving car, who was taken to “jail”) were taken out of their respective vehicles and placed onto stretchers to be moved for further medical treatment.
To top off the event, it was determined that Aby Berger’s “injuries” were life-threatening and she needed to be helivaced out. In no time at all, a Life Flight helicopter was hovering above the scene and then landed on the grassy area in front of the school. Berger was then loaded on the helicopter and taken on a quick flight to Silverton.
The school student body lined up alongside the display and watched as everything unfolded.
One of the organizers of the event, SCFD No. 1 Chief Aaron Cagle, was pleased with how everyone handled themselves and stressed the importance of the demonstration.
“We are happy to take time out of our day to do this for our high school students in the area,” he said. “If we save one life, then we have done our jobs.”
He added that this kind of situation does not just pertain to drinking and driving, but “includes other illegal substances, texting and driving, eating and driving, and being too tired to drive.”
Emergency crews plan to do more of these mock incidents in the future at a different location.