Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Students witness mock car crash
As part of the mock crash program, Downingtown East students heard from someone who was involved in a drunk driving-related crash
UWCHLAN >> Downingtown students witnessed first-responders arrive to a mock car crash Monday before they heard from a local graduate who was involved in a similar crash because of a “stupid decision.”
Uwchlan police, Lionville Fire Company firefighters, Uwchlan Ambulance, Downingtown East High School juniors, students and others participated in the mock crash at the school in Uwchlan to demonstrate the dangers of impaired driving and to show the extrication and rescue process that occurs.
The mock crash was rehearsed beforehand and the scenario was developed by the high school’s SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) chapter of East students, members of the Media Theater Company, and first-responders in the community.
After the mock crash, Bryn Mawr Rehab presented its program “Cruisin’ Smart,” for the students to hear from an actual crash victim. East students heard Dan Perrino talk about the “one stupid decision” he made and the traumatic injuries he suffered after his car swerved off the road, hit a boulder and then hit a telephone pole. At that time in July 2009, he was a junior at Garnet Valley High School.
“I had a bright future ahead of me, I was on top of the world and like many of you, I thought I was invincible,” he said to the students in the Downingtown Area School District. “That one choice I made was to drive my friend’s car home after I had been drinking.”
Perrino had plans to spend the night at his friend’s home, a mile and a half away. But plans changed when another friend woke him up late that morning and wanted to leave.
First-responders responded to the crash and used the hydraulic tools to rescue the two friends and rushed them to the hospital.
His parents arrived to the hospital and the doctors told them they didn’t think Perrino would survive the surgery. His brain rapidly swelled. If he did survive, they didn’t think he would wake up from a coma, but he did three months later.
The doctors also thought Perrino would be paralyzed, and not be able to see, hear, walk or talk again. After two and a half years in hospitals, he learned to walk and talk again, but he is halfblind in his left eye and half-deaf in his left ear. He suffers from short-term memory loss.
His friend, the passenger in the car, suffered only a minor concussion and spent a day in the hospital.
Car accidents still remain the leading cause of death of 16 to 19-year-olds, killing more teens than cancer, homicide, and suicide combined, according to event sponsor State Farm Insurance.
The program began at Penncrest High School in Delaware County, and was crafted in 2009 by Riddle Hospital and Middletown Fire Company with funding from State Farm. The program expanded in 2010 to Chester County with a State Farm and Paoli Hospital partnership.