UMC event highlights consequences of impaired driving for local teens

It's an old story: Don't drink and drive.

But for those who attended the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada's Dec. 11 event You Drink, You Drive, You Lose, an old story took on a chilling new meaning.

The day was sunny and breezy, and a host of community organizations had tables explaining their missions. Attendees could learn about the organizations and typically come away with giveaways, everything from lip gloss and can warmer/coolers to phone-cleaning patches and a bag for cyclists or pedestrians that had nighttime visibility stripes.

A free lunch was featured as well in the cafeteria at UMC, 1800 W. Charleston Blvd. Along with UMC, sponsors were a number of community businesses and the Nevada Department of Public Safety. Students who attended were given excused absences from their schools.

The chilling part? Hearing stories about the consequences of drinking and driving. State Sen. Mark Manendo told a story about a young female friend who, years ago, was simply bringing soup to her ill boyfriend when her car was hit by an impaired driver. She nearly burned to death, was unrecognizable in the emergency room, and Manendo said "her life was never the same."

"I lost the majority of my friends," said Nevada Donor Network volunteer Crystal Hill after her son Jesse, 19, was killed. Jesse was walking in his neighborhood when he was hit by a 20-year-old drunken and impaired driver almost three years ago.

"The friends I had then didn't want to be around a person who cried all the time or one who couldn't go to various places because of the memories there," she said. "I now have a whole new group of friends in the donor network and friends who have shared similar tragedies in their families."

Hill noted that the young man who killed her son is now in prison, serving eight to 20 years.

"How much better if a different decision had been made three years ago — not to put keys in the ignition," she said. "Look at how many families have been affected. I have another son who refuses to even speak of his brother; it's just too painful."

Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Loy Hixon came with two other uniformed officers, saying, "We're the ones who hear the screams. We see people cry. Be smart. We don't like preventable injuries."

Talking to an audience primarily made up of students from local high schools, Clark County Commissioner Lawrence Weekly noted, "Your parents look forward to you being alive." He said the topic of the day was "serious business" and asked for the students' help in spreading the message about safe driving.

He also asked audience members to raise their hands if they had ever gotten in a car with someone who had been drinking. A number of hands went up. He asked the young people to "put a value on your own life," and next time, find another ride home.

Among the vehicles on display at the event were two white hearses. Pointing to the vehicles, Las Vegas Mayor Pro Tem Steve Ross asked the audience, "How would you feel if you were responsible for putting someone in one of those?"

The words of Nevada Assistant Attorney General Wesley Duncan had to do with the "space" between stimulation and response when decisions must be made.

"You don't ever want to be in the situation where you wish you had made a different decision," he said.

Hearing the stories, Sarah Belheir, a senior at Rancho High School, said she had heard "all this" before but never in such an intimate setting. She said the talks "really made an impact; I never knew how much someone could lose in a moment."

After the guest speakers and lunch, the audience was directed to an area where a car was overturned. Las Vegas Fire & Rescue personnel then demonstrated how a driver trapped in a vehicle would be extracted. The process involved carefully drilling into the car structure to loosen windows and doors. Such rescues require trained personnel and are also time-consuming — time a seriously injured person may or may not have.

Dr. John J. Fildes, medical director of the UMC's Trauma Unit and the founder of the event 17 years ago, noted that You Drink, You Drive, You Lose should have broader appeal than to high school students. He explained that when the first event was hosted, the community had seen too many accidents involving drunken driving.

"With regard to drunk and impaired driving, the per capita statistics are better," he said, "but now we are seeing more accidents involving distracted drivers.

"This is about being our brothers' keepers. All of us should help others not make the wrong decisions."