On April 16th, Joel teamed up with Meliam Gonzales, RN, BSN; a Trauma Prevention Coordinator & Clinical Educator and Safe Kids Bergen County Coordinator at Hackensack University Medical Center, NJ, to inform students of Emerson high school about the deadly consequences of Distracted Driving.
The teens listened very attentively to Ms. Gonzales as she related how she, as a trauma nurse, has seen teens brought into the hospital terribly injured and told them about how times in which she has had to tell parents that their children did not survive.
On the day of the presentation, a number of students showed their support for ending distracted driving by wearing their “Victims of Volume” t-shirts, which was part of a project they created for the UGotBrains Champion Schools Program. In this project the students focused on one distraction that we many of us may not even consider a distraction: music. The students found research that shows how the level of music in a car can affect the drivers reaction time as much as 12 seconds. In distracted driving accidents, those 12 seconds can often mean the difference between life and death.
The students worked with the Emerson Police Department to produce a Public Service Announcement to show others the danger of this specific distraction, as well as distracted driving in general:
Emerson High students also plan to enter the next NOYS contest.
** Pictured from Left to Right:Jack Williams, Meliam Gonzales, R.N. Alyse Guarriello, Joel Feldman; Theresa Santalla, Jen Budres, and Mat Eyerkuss,
