Students from Seneca High School were exposed to what day-to-day life is like at a Level I Trauma Center on Wednesday during a three-hour course that included examples of execution-style gunshot wounds, severe burns and suicide attempts as well as simulated trauma cases. The lesson for students – most trauma injuries are preventable.
The Courier-Post followed the students throughout the day and published a feature on the class as well as the Trauma Center’s numerous community outreach programs.
To bring the images to life, Ron Murphy, a 10-year trauma team member at Cooper University Hospital, added the details behind every death.
“Not all of our patients arrive as a whole person,” he said.
For three hours, 20 teenagers received lessons in reality at the program, which is held weekly for students across South Jersey.
It’s not for the faint of heart — or fainters.
“This is not the most comfortable setting for people,” Murphy said while standing next to a gurney in Cooper’s Trauma 1 room adjacent to the helipad. “We have people pass out all the time.”
Read the complete story on the Courier-Post website at courierpostonline.com, including a photo gallery from the program.
For more information on community outreach and injury prevention programs offered by the Level I Trauma Center, visit their page on cooperhealth.org.