‘NOT ONE MORE’
Hospitals join anti-drunk driving campaign
The Fourth of July weekend is supposed to be a time of fun and celebration. But it’s also a prime time for drunken driving accidents, said Dr. Steven Valassis, chairman of emergency medicine at St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport.
“We definitely see more drunk driving accidents in summer and on all the holiday weekends it’s more prevalent,” Valassis said. “We want people to enjoy their summer, but we also want them to make good decisions and good choices.”
On Thursday, Hartford HealthCare — the health system that St. Vincent’s is part of — announced the “Not One More” campaign, designed to prevent drunken driving accidents.
Funded by a $550,000 highway safety grant from the state Department of Transportation, the program — led by HHC’s Hartford Hospital — will unite 12 trauma centers from across the state to urge drivers to avoid having ‘just one more’ alcoholic beverage before driving.
The program was announced during a press conference at Hartford Hospital, which included officials from Hartford Hospital, Hartford HealthCare and some of the other participating trauma centers.
As part of the “Not One More” campaign, Connecticut drivers will be encouraged to sign an online pledge that they will not drive impaired at NotOneMore.org.
The website will also include personal stories of health care providers and their experiences treating victims of impaired driving, as well resources, such as a blood alcohol content calculator.
The campaign is about working together to improve public health — something everyone has had a lot of experience with of late, said Dr. Jonathan Gates, chief of trauma, and system director of Hartford HealthCare’s Trauma Network.
“If we have learned anything collectively from this COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that the answer to controlling any outbreak is found in all of us,” he said. “It really is looking out for one another.”
Gates said he realizes that there will always be drinking. The goal of the campaign, he said, is to make sure that people don’t get behind the wheel impaired, and that they encourage their friends not to drive after drinking, either.
“Alcohol consumption, we understand, is part of everyday life,” he said. “We get that. But we want you to enjoy it responsibly.”
Others who spoke at Thursday’s event included Dr. Shea C. Gregg, section chief of the trauma, burns and surgical critical care at Bridgeport Hospital. Gregg is also the chairman of the Connecticut State Trauma Committee. He said he and his colleagues frequently deal with people injured and killed in drunken driving accidents, and he’d like to see efforts like “Not One More” put an end to that.
“Trauma surgery is a career path where we don’t want more business,” he said.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there is typically an increase in drunken driving accidents over the Fourth of July weekend. The NHTSA reports that, from 2015 to 2019, there were 1,339 drivers killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes over the Fourth of July holiday period, and 38 percent of the drivers killed were drunk.
Valassis said he has witnessed the pain that drunken driving accidents can cause, not just to the impaired driver, but also to their families and anybody they might harm while behind the wheel.
“If you speak to any first responder; if you speak to anyone who works in an emergency department; if you speak to my trauma colleagues, they can speak to the trauma of drunk driving and how it affects families,” he said. “You don’t want to wake up in the emergency department and realize that you’re hurt because of a decision you made. And, then, as you sober up you realize that you’ve also hurt someone else.”
Valassis said the “Not One More” campaign is a step toward preventing deaths and injuries due to drunken driving. “It’s about not having one more accident after one more drink,” he said.