Published: May 14, 2008 01:03 am      

TOWN OF TONAWANDA: Cardinal O'Hara stages cautionary crash

By the time paramedics and firefighters are involved, intoxicated teens who have gotten behind the wheel might not be in any condition to learn a lesson.

That’s why Cardinal O’Hara High School invited town police, paramedics and firefighters to hold a demonstration of exactly what first responders see after a drunk driving accident.

Two cars were set up in advance, then filled with O’Hara students chosen to act as the wounded occupants. Then came the sirens, as a Town of Tonawanda police cruiser arrived to assess the damage. That initial assessment is the key to properly using the resources that arrive on the scene to get people out as quickly and safely as possible, said Brighton Volunteer Firefighter Wally Byers.

“In the old days we used to have what they called the golden hour, but with all the new technology we have to open up the car now we want you out in 20 minutes,” Byers said. “In that situation, you don’t care who shows up and gets you out as long as you get out without them injuring you more than you already have been.”

To do that, firefighters used boards and blankets to brace and protect the acting victims while they broke the car’s windows and cut off roofs and doors.

The process was unnerving to say the least. Matt McDermott acted as the accident’s fatality, sitting motionless while teams worked around him breaking glass and cutting the top off the car to save his passenger.

“It was pretty scary,” McDermott said. “The noise was very loud and it hurt my ears when they were breaking the glass.”

Rob Addison was hauled out of the car on a stretcher to be loaded onto a Mercy Flight helicopter that sat down in the school’s parking lot. The trip came complete with the type of neck brace used to transport patients without further irritating any spinal injuries.

“This thing hurts,” Addison said of the brace. “There’s a lot of pressure on my forehead, chin and back.”

Moving to those that ended up in the care of Twin City Ambulance, Kim Renda was in the back seat and had a model femur taped to her leg to illustrate the kind of bone fractures that a car crash can create, and Chelsea King incurred an actual cut while sweeping glass off her car’s seat.

“This is actually my blood,” King said pointing to a slightly different shade of red than the fake blood between her fingers.

Lauren Henry, the pretend drunk driver, fared better than the rest in the accident, as the drivers in drunken crashes often do. But after a few botched sobriety tests, she got to see the inside of a town vehicle as well: The back of a police car.

Science teacher Michael Norwood arranged the event, the third of its kind at the school. But he’s reluctant to make it an annual affair because students might not find it as important.

“If we do this every year it gets to be old hat,” Norwood said. “We want this to be something that will stick with them.”

Principal Matthew Ciurczak said the event is entertaining, but he also believes the images will hit home with the students when they’re making the decision to get behind the wheel on prom night and any other night.

“Seeing their classmates on the gurney all bloodied up will leave an impact that they will hopefully take with them,” Ciurczak said.

Contact reporter Daniel Pyeat 693-1000, ext. 158.