Trauma centers are sending a message to drivers in Connecticut – please stay off of the roads when you are impaired.
Trauma center staff speaking directly to you. PSAs from all of Connecticut’s healthcare networks are being rolled out, calling on the public to stay off the road impaired as we come to the end of another deadly year on the state's roads.
The campaign puts trauma professionals in the spotlight and with them, the harsh realities of caring for car crash victims.
“That type of kid, all around great young man that I wish I could have seen where he would be today,” said Larry Hermann, speaking of his son Kyle.
Kyle was killed in a wrong-way crash back in July of 2018 on Route 16 in East Hampton.
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“Came around a blind corner, there was a woman on the wrong side of the road going somewhere between 110 and 116 miles an hour when she hit him head-on,” Hermann said.
Since the crash, he has been advocating for safer roads, but roadway deaths remain frustratingly high.
“Every one of these fatalities, its not just a number, it’s a person, it’s a family that is left behind that has to deal with the heartbreak and wrap their head around it,” Hermann said.
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The number this year is 307. That’s 307 people with families and friends killed on the roadways, according to the CT Department of Transportation.
But the chorus of voices speaking out against dangerous and specifically impaired driving continues to grow.
Including the “Not One More” Campaign with the “Healthcare Heroes Against Impaired Driving.” All 14 trauma centers around Connecticut are involved in PSAs.
“I hope I never have to restart your heart, restore your breathing…tell someone we lost you along the way,” various healthcare professionals said in one with Yale New Haven Health staff.
“These people step up to the plate time and time again, and do their job and do it well,” Dr. Jonathan Gates said.
Gates is the chief of trauma at Hartford Hospital. He said trauma professionals around the state will tell you the same thing: these crashes are preventable.
The campaign implores drivers to never drive impaired by introducing you to those who would be tasked with saving your life, if they can.
“These people step up to the plate time and time again, and do their job and do it well,” Gates said.
It also empowers healthcare professionals to speak up, something Gates said holds power.
“Be able to push back and say look we have got a solution, look to us and it makes us feel like we are able to do more than we are medically,” he said.
Hermann is glad that year over year, more people continue to speak up and find ways to speak to the public about an important topic.
But now it's about finding ways to bend ears and get people to listen.
“The more people that speak about it, the more chance we have, and making change,” Hermann said.
Hermann said the conversations can be uncomfortable, but calls them critical and wants more people to speak up against impaired driving.
You can watch the Yale New Haven Health PSA here and the Hartford HealthCare PSA by clicking here.
