This scenario was a part of the Ghost Out Program for Anti-DUI from the Office of Highway Safety. Students witnessed what an actual injury accident would resemble with fatal consequences, and the actions first responders would take to work the crash scene. They had to see a parent arrive on scene, who found out their child was one of the fatalities. This program had a huge impact on many of the students, as tears were visible on many eyes.
After the mock crash the eight victims from the crash scene were taken to Baptist East Hospital where they witnessed first hand an emergency room triage. Two of the victims were used in the scenario with doctors and nurses operating on them as they would in a real scenario. After the triage was completed the students were able to ask questions and hear from those who work in the ER of what it is they do and how they handle the types of injuries related from a car accident.
When the students finished up with the hospital, they were taken back to the high school where they prepared for a Ghost Out Assembly. During this time, two of the victims read off poems to open the assembly followed by a guest speaker who was a survivor of a DUI accident. When the speaker was finished the lights dimmed down as somber music played with the coffin being escorted in by the grim reaper. The victims followed behind and lined up in front of their fellow students holding lit candles.
One by one the grim reaper walked up to each victim and read an obituary telling how he or she died and a short bio of whom they were. When each person’s obituary was completed the grim reaper would blow out their candle and two first responders would lay the victim on the floor and cover them up with a white sheet. This occurred for six of the victims. The seventh subject, who was responsible for the DUI crash was escorted into the gymnasium in handcuffs and was forced to walk between the coffin and the dead bodies of his fellow students of whom he had killed. As the reaper walked over to the last victim, she knocked his hand away and yelled “NO”. She then proceeded to pull out a cell phone and make a phone call to her mother where she told her mom that she was at a party and had been drinking. She told her that she was not okay to drive and she knew she would be in trouble but she still knew she shouldn’t drive and would rather take the punishment from her parents then risk losing her life or harming another in attempting to drive. She then ran out of the gym away from the reaper.
A first responder then closed out the assembly with preaching the message that if someone did choose to have a drink when they hade the opportunity, then it was ok to call someone for a ride. They did not have to make two wrong choices by trying to hide it and attempting to drive home.