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Serving Northern St. Louis County, Minnesota

Lessons to save a life

Mock crash highlights the consequences of distracted and impaired driving

Jodi Summit
Posted 5/3/23

TOWER-SOUDAN- “If we can stop one kid from making bad decisions during prom and graduation season,” said Breitung Police Chief Dan Reing, “then all this effort is worth …

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Lessons to save a life

Mock crash highlights the consequences of distracted and impaired driving

Posted

TOWER-SOUDAN- “If we can stop one kid from making bad decisions during prom and graduation season,” said Breitung Police Chief Dan Reing, “then all this effort is worth it.”
Helping young people make better decisions when they get behind the wheel was the point of an elaborate and well-executed exercise organized by the Breitung Police Department and Vermilion Country School.
High school students from the grades 7-12 charter school thought they were headed to a field trip at the Soudan Mine when they came upon a grisly accident scene just off Hwy. 169 in Soudan. It was a two-vehicle crash, with battered and bloodied bodies lying on the pavement or unconscious in their cars. It was a mock scene but it looked very real, portraying a scenario in which an impaired teenage driver was texting while driving. With three passengers in the car, the driver ran through a stop sign, hitting another car head-on with an adult couple and their daughter on board.
“Life is precious, and bad decisions can have serious consequences,” Reing said. “I’ve seen the real-life consequences from these incidents. I’ve seen kids pass away. I’ve seen too many accidents involving teenagers.”
It was a dramatic teachable moment for students, but it was also a training exercise for area fire, ambulance, and police departments. Reing, who has participated in these types of events previously, including one at North Woods School back in 2016, said this was the first time he coordinated the planning. He worked alongside VCS office manager Karla Lundstrom, who had started planning for the event back in September.
“Everyone participating is a volunteer,” said Lundstrom.
After discussion with their parents, Lundstrom asked four VCS students to be the actors in the scenario. VCS students Ashton Cook, Haedyn Miller, Alyssa Costello, and Jaymes Scholz spent the last three weeks preparing for the event, all without letting the other students know what was in the works.  Reing’s wife, Ivette, and a staffer from Life Link air ambulance played the couple hit by the car driven by the VCS student. Chloe Anderson, a high school student from North Woods, filled in as the child of the couple in the car. Parents of the students participating were part of the planning and were present during the mock crash. And even though they thought they were thoroughly prepared, watching the scene moved some to tears.
While the students were initially shocked when they came across the accident scene, they soon realized it was a simulation, and got off the bus to watch as the emergency medical and rescue personnel played their parts, responding to the emergency. While they all knew it was a re-enactment, watching it all play out was hard for some of the students. The school had notified parents of the mock crash that day, and also had extra support staff on hand to talk to any students who had questions.
“We will be debriefing and reflecting on what we witnessed the next morning,” said office manager Karla Lundstrom. “Students will be hearing from the students and families who participated in the demonstration. Vermilion Country School invites parents to talk to their teens about the dangers and serious consequences of distracted driving, drinking and driving, speeding, and thinking ahead for safety.”
On the crash scene
As students watched, an injured mother came out of the car to see her daughter, lifeless, on the pavement. She cries out for someone who can do CPR, and shortly after, Breitung Police arrive on the scene and start CPR. Soon ambulances arrive, and the police begin to assess the other victims and call for backup, including an air ambulance. Tower Fire personnel assisted in creating a landing zone on the nearby soccer field. Breitung Fire responded with their extrication tools, and once the patient is assessed by the ambulance crew, began the process of removing the door from the smashed car. 
“I drive everyone around,” said VCS senior Ashton Cook, who thought it was appropriate he got picked to play the driver. “But I always drive safely if I have another kid in my truck.” For the mock crash, Ashton played the part of a teen, who was under the influence of prescription narcotics, and texting while driving, causing the fatal crash. Only slightly injured in the mock crash, he wandered in a daze around the scene, looking back at his friends, two dead at the scene, and one barely alive but trapped in the car, who subsequently died at the hospital.
Ashton was questioned by the police on scene, and then assessed by the ambulance crew for possible injuries, and then brought to the hospital for a check, before being arrested and brought to jail. Finally, the medical examiner arrives on scene, and the three deceased victims are put into body bags and removed. 
The student actors played their parts perfectly. They had all gotten movie-grade makeup, consistent with the types of injuries received in an actual accident. The students had spent the morning at the staging area at the Breitung Community Center, going over their roles, getting bloodied and bruised (make-up wise), and waiting for the actual event to begin. 
The scene also provided training for emergency responders, who also gathered at the community building to plan their response. This included what to do if an actual emergency happened while the mock crash was underway. Some area law enforcement got called out for an actual drunk driving accident during the morning. The Life Link helicopter scheduled for landing got called out, but then was able to land during the event, but before a patient could be loaded in, got called out for another emergency.
The entire scenario, from the crash scene to notification of family members and even eulogies, was filmed. The video will be professionally edited to use as an educational program with other schools in the area.
Junior high students at VCS went on a separate field trip on Tuesday, and were not there to witness the mock crash scene. 
Tower Ambulance, Breitung Fire and Rescue, Breitung Police, St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department, Life Link air ambulance, Breitung maintenance department, and Midwest Medical Examiners all participated in the scenario. Makeup artists included Valerie Turnbull, nurse manager at Scenic Rivers Health Services, and Nina Wycoff and Katie Erickson from Northern Lights Salon in Tower. Junk cars were towed in and towed away by Mather Recycling in Ely. RMS Road Machinery and Supply, from Virginia, provided food for all the volunteers, and it also gave paid time-off for two of the participants father’s, who were working as actors in the mock crash.