STREET SMART: Drugs, alcohol affect judgement

Published Oct. 21, 2011
By Airman 1st Class Earlandez M. Young
92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs

FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. -- "Street Smart shows you the consequences of drinking and driving up close and personal and gives you a very simple message - don't make bad decisions," said Col Paul Guemmer, the 92nd Air Refueling Wing commander, before the Street Smart program was presented to hundreds of Team Fairchild Airmen, Oct. 14.
     Colonel Guemmer introduced two paramedics from Orlando who said they didn't come to Fairchild to give a finger-pointing lecture on what to and what not to do. Instead, they illustrated the consequences to the human body if Airmen decide not to wear a seatbelt, text people while driving or get in the car with someone who has been drinking or driving under the influence.
     The firefighters showed a five minute slide show unveiling gruesome images of car crash victims, to which paramedics responded.
     "In my opinion, the images that were shown gave the presentation a serious and real life approach," said Airman 1st Class Tony Ballentine, 92nd Medical Group. "I was amazed by the statistics that were given - you have a 25 times greater chance of dying if you're ejected from a vehicle. I perform at funerals often because of honor guard, and passing away in a fatal car crash isn't the way we should die for our country."
     Street Smart started in 1988 because a firefighter from Miami Dade County saw a trend - students were dying rapidly in car crashes by not wearing seatbelts and/or drinking and driving. By 2003, the program started traveling around the country.
     "This program itself started off for people 14 and above, as a high school program," said Scott Mclntyre, Orlando paramedic. "We realized from there, there was a need for it also in colleges, and the military was just a natural fit for the program as a whole. Now, about 60 percent of our presentations are for the military."
     McClaun and Mclntyre talked to the audience about alcohol and all drugs (including prescription drugs) affecting judgment long before they affect people's vision skills, speech and balance.
     The Orlando paramedics receive calls regarding accidents daily and go through many obstacles when trying to save lives. They usually receive three types of calls: fire, medical and trauma.
     "The majority of the calls we receive are trauma," said McClaun, who said for ages 3-33, the number one killer is car crashes.
     Airman Andrew Olvera, 92nd Force Support Squadron, was included in the volunteer portion of the program. He pretended to be a person at a party without a plan who drank then drove. He crashed his car.
     "I was surprised by the initial result they gave me after describing the crash - 'you're dead,'" said Olvera. "In these types of presentations we usually don't expect the examples to be realistic because most of us think it won't happen to us, which is clearly not true. But, after seeing this program, the graphic images, videos, hearing tragic stories and excuses we give for not wearing seatbelts, I totally understand consequences for careless actions."
     In the end, the paramedics say Team Fairchild was great at giving them feedback throughout the program and they think their message was heard.
     McCluan added "how do we stack the odds in our favor so that we don't die from trauma? Use common sense. Common sense tells you wear your seatbelt, don't drink and drive, if your friend is or has been drinking you shouldn't let them drive no matter what, if you're the designated driver of the night -- don't drink because your wingman is depending on you and no text message is worth us losing our life over."
     For more information, visit the "Street Smart" website at www.streetsmart.com or become the program's friend on Facebook visit www.facebook.com/streetsmart.