The annual Greene County-Greeneville Prom Promise was held at the Greene County Fairgrounds Thursday morning, and the event showed hundreds of high school students the dangers of driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Upperclassmen from all four county high schools and Greeneville High School attended the event that simulated what happens after a two vehicle crash caused by a young person driving impaired on prom night, and how first responders approach the situation.
Participants included Greene County-Greeneville EMS, the Greeneville Emergency & Rescue Squad, the Greeneville Fire Department, Greene County Sheriff’s Department, Greeneville Community Hospital, Highlands Emergency Air Rescue and Transport Service (HEART), the Greene County Anti-Drug Coalition and Casper’s Wrecker Service.
Student volunteers from Chuckey-Doak High School played the role of “victims” of a head-on crash on Fairgrounds Circle on prom night caused by a young man who was driving impaired due to using a vape containing THC. West Greene High School’s cosmetology program provided the makeup and mock injuries for the student volunteers, also known as moulage.
Cosmetology instructor Robin Shipley said her students enjoyed helping out with the event. She noted that the moulage makeup is different than beauty makeup, but that her students were “really bright and picked it up quickly.”
“It’s so exciting for them. We were back there and they were really nervous, but once they get into doing it they get so excited,” Shipley said. “It (the event) really brings the real world to people.”
Greeneville Mayor Cal Doty made opening remarks at the event, and highlighted the importance of safety for young people and their importance to the community. Chaplain Danny Ricker provided an invocation for the event.
Chris Bowers, a retired Greeneville firefighter and part-time Greene County EMS first responder, narrated the scenario that began with a recorded 911 call and the simulated arrival of first responders. First responders on the scene were EMS, the Greeneville Fire Department, Greeneville Emergency and Rescue Squad, and the Greene County Sheriff’s Department.
The “victims” of the crash were checked for injuries, and then the Rescue Squad team used extrication tools to cut the windshield out of a truck before cutting the roof off the vehicle.
As “victims” were removed from the crash, one was loaded into an ambulance while another was taken to a HEART helicopter that landed next to the scene to simulate air transport.
Greene County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy David Beverly gave the “impaired driver” of the vehicle at fault a field sobriety test before the young man was placed in a police cruiser.
One “victim” that had been laughed through a windshield was declared a fatality at the scene. A sheet was placed over the “deceased” until her traumatized mother, played by Amy Dunbar, arrived on the scene to identify the victim.
As the simulated event played out, Bowers described how the first responders participating had not stopped moving since arriving at the accident scene.
Bowers said that first responders see accidents like the simulated one “all the time,” and that they cause innocent people to get hurt or lose their lives.
He noted that serious accidents change the lives of those involved and their family and friends forever.
Bowers said that every accident with an impaired driver starts with a choice.
“It’s all about choices guys,” Bowers said. “You only die one time.”
He implored the students to make wise choices, and to not hesitate to call their parents or friends to come pick them up instead of driving impaired or riding with someone that is driving impaired, even if it is 2 o’clock in the morning. Bowers said that the students were loved, and that parents would much rather get them home safely, tell them they love them and that “we’ll talk about it in the morning,” instead of never seeing their child again due to an accident.
“We want to talk with you, not about you,” Bowers said.
Bowers stated that the students were the future leaders of the community and he wanted them all to live up to their full potential.
The students signed a banner before departing the event to go back to their schools.
