Students Learn of Loss 'Every 15 Minutes'

With prom and graduation nearing, police agencies and other organizations are doing what they can to stop students from driving drunk—even "killing" some of their own.

Northstar Air Medical, based in Bedminster, held its "Every 15 Minutes" program Thursday to warn of the dangers of drunken driving. The program was held at the Somerset County Vocational & Technical High School, in conjunction with the University Hospital in Newark, the Somerset County Sheriff's Office and local police and rescue agencies.

"It takes a village and everyone helps," said Terry Hoben, EMS coordinator for the Northstar Air Medical Program.

Hoben said this was the first time the Vo-Tech has hosted the program, which has been held in other Somerset County districts, including Hillsborough and Franklin.

"We try to move it around," he said, adding that this program is taken around the state. "But we try to give back to our community, and take special care of Somerset County."

The program began early in the morning, as, every 15 minutes, students were removed from class and obituaries read. These volunteers, called the "Living Dead" were all told to have perished in drunken driving accidents.

The students returned to their classes later in the day with faces painted white to symbolize that they had died.

The main presentation, held in the parking lot of the school, showcased a front-end collision, with one fatality, two serious injuries and one arrested for drunken driving.

Video cameras rolled and followed the action once the scenario had played out, with one student being "booked" and taken to jail, and another "dying" in the hospital from injuries.

Students will be shown those continued videos at a memorial service to be held Friday morning at the school to remember those students and end the program.

Hoben said the 21 students who volunteered to play the "Living Dead" will continue the program separately through the evening. They will write letters to their parents, and their parents will write letters back he said, to talk about what they would have liked to still say to their families.

Some of those letters will be shared during the memorial service, Hoben said.

In addition, the students will hear from George Pizzo, a man whose daughter died in a drunk driving accident.

Hoben said he believes these aspects separate the program from any others he has seen.

"I have seen all kinds of programs with extrication, crime scene investigations and more," he said. "They fail because they take too long."

"This is how it happens, it's confusion and a lot happening," he added.

Hoben said it is all about bringing the reality of the situation to students as they see their friends dying.

"We hope they will take this experience, and [see it as a] do over," he said. "This is the worst possible situation, and we hit them in the face with reality."

"They will wake up tomorrow, and hopefully learn from it," he added.