High School

I hated high school. I was shy, and a good student so therefore was never very popular. Going back as the "guest speaker" in a class is a whole different perspective. Neuro ICU has a program that they have been doing since the 80's that is designed to help teenagers make better choices. The point is that we know they are drinking, doing drugs, etc... we just want them to find a better way than driving while impaired or riding with someone who is.

There is a power point slide show set to music which (by my admission) can be fairly cheesy. There are real case presentations of students and families from this area and long term effects of head and spinal cord injuries. Included are some "gross" pictures. That always gets a reaction. The presentation concludes with hundreds of pictures of the roadside memorials in the area.
Afterwards we talk about the different situations and what decisions could have changed outcomes.

Finally we choose two kids to come up front. One is the victim.... the class decides what kind of awful accident this person was in and then what they hit, were they drinking, drugs, etc. We then "dress them up" as trauma patients and play show and tell with the breathing tubes, chest tubes, IV's, catheters you name it. We go through the motions of resuscitation and then placing the pt in a body bag.

Some kids are very responsive, others are what we call 'FTA's" Future Trauma Alerts. Two days of this will wear you out. I was happy to get back to the hospital last night for critical care class. I am a "princess" in the ER tonight and then off tomorrow for the cop's birthday.