March 25, 2015, ST. LOUIS - As students at Roosevelt High School in south St. Louis first walked out onto the football field, many laughed. They saw fellow students made up with fake blood and fake injuries while lying in two cars positioned as if they had hit head-on. But once police showed up … and ambulances … and fire trucks … and helicopters … students got a real wake up call as to what the dangers of drunk driving can be. They became real quiet, real quick.
“We want these students to see exactly what happens,” says Helen Sandkuhl, RN, director of emergency and trauma services at SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital. “It’s effective.”
Sandkuhl and her team led the “docu-drama” at Roosevelt with significant contributions from the St. Louis City Police Department, the St. Louis City Fire Department, ARCH Air Medical, Abbott EMS and Gateway Ambulance Service.
“Our partners on this cared as much as anyone to make sure this work,” says Joan Eberhardt, RN, clinical nurse educator at SLU Hospital. “We couldn’t have done this without them.”
The docu-drama began with Sandkuhl and her team, painting fake blood and injuries on members of the Roosevelt High School student council.
From there, those injured got into position inside two cars from recent accidents that were donated by the city police.
The prom king and queen were in one car, while four students were in another.
The prom queen was positioned to appear as if she was ejected from the vehicle.
Students walked out to see the wreckage before sitting in the bleachers.
Police immediately descended on the scene.
EMS arrived and began treating injured students.
The grim reaper watched over the prom queen.
A medical helicopter arrived.
The prom king was arrested after failing a breathalyzer.
The prom queen was loaded into a hearse.
Overall, one of the more powerful ways to educate high school students on drunk driving dangers. More docu-dramas are scheduled in April at two city high schools. For more, watch the above story from FOX2’s Paul Schankman.
