National Emergency Medical Services Week is celebrated every year in May, a chance to honor the men and women who save lives when accidents and sudden illnesses happen. During that week, educational events all over the country teach how to avoid medical emergencies — something the Emergency Department at Doctors Medical Center of Modesto does year-round.

The Doctors Medical Center ER is designated a Level II Trauma Center by the Mountain Valley Regional Emergency Medical Services. Trauma Program Director Anita Schenkler, R.N., says that her staff treats trauma cases caused by everything from water-skiing accidents to text-messaging teens.

“Our experience in the trauma program enables us to update our message to kids and parents to reflect the problems we see day to day,” she says. “Traffic accidents caused by kids text-messaging have been going through the ceiling.”

The outreach program started because of the Trauma Room staff was seeing “lots of teens who’d been in car crashes, and there was no program for them,” Schenkler recalls. A community coalition was formed by the Health Department, the police and sheriff’s departments, the Stanislaus County Board of Education, churches and hospitals.

Teens and Trauma was the result. Participants in the program see life pictures from the Trauma Room, study X-rays and hear trauma nurses talking about what they experience in their work. “We emphasize choices and consequences,” says Leslie Antonis, R.N., who is in charge of the program. “We tell them, ‘You can control your choices, but you can’t control their consequences.’”

Trauma Room staffers also participate in the CHP’s “Every 15 Minutes Program,” which removes one student every 15 minutes from the classroom, sequesters them overnight and educates them. They also work in the Modesto Police’s diversion program, where teens are sent after infractions like running a red light or driving without seatbelts.

“Parents participate in all these programs,” says Schenkler. Many parents don’t know, for example, that the California law makes it illegal for new drivers to drive with passengers in the car during the first year after getting the license.

“Lots of parents simply have never heard about the provisional license,” says Schenkler. “A new driver has basic driving skills, but he’s still a learner — he’s like a toddler who can walk, but not well.” A Journal of American Medicine study has shown, in fact, that the risk of new drivers being involved in a crash increases for every extra passenger in the car.

Parents may also not be aware of the legal penalties they could face if their children are arrested for driving under the influence. “Parents are financially responsible for their beginning drivers,” says Schenkler. “The California DMV requires parents or other guardians to sign a statement to that effect when a minor gets a license.”

The trauma staff’s message for parents is loud and clear. “ “Some parents don’t think they have a right to tell their kids when to drive,” says Schenkler. “They don’t believe they can hide the car keys, or hide the car, but they can. Our message to parents is: ‘You are in control!’”

Facts About Teen Drivers

· The risk of motor vehicle crashes is four times higher among 16- to 19-year-olds than among any other age group
· The presence of teen passengers increases the crash risk of unsupervised teen drivers; the risk increases with the number of teen passengers.
· Crash risk is particularly high during the first year that teenagers are eligible to drive.
· Compared with other age groups, teens have the lowest rate of seat belt use.
· Motorists who use cell phones while driving are four times as likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves as those who do not.
· Text messaging by teens, a driving distraction related to cell phone use, was the subject of an August 2006 Teens Today survey conducted by the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety and Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD). The survey showed that teens considered sending text messages via cell phones to be their biggest distraction.