Hospital emergency rooms nationwide get more visits from teenagers on New Year’s Day than any other day of the year. And it’s all about alcohol: drunk driving crashes, acute intoxication and booze-related mishaps. According to a new report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, emergency department visits because of underage drinking are more than 250 percent higher on New Year’s Day than on average days. Last year, 1,980 underage drinkers were sent to the hospital on the first day of the year, compared to 546 such visits on an average day.
The New Year’s Day figures were higher than any other holiday period during the year. For instance there were 676 underage drinking visits on Memorial Day weekend and 942 on Fourth of July weekend, according to the report.
Dr. Sanjay Shewakramani, worked the emergency department at Georgetown University Hospital last New Year’s Eve, and said the shift was by far his busiest. On a typical “busy” night, he said he’ll see 26 patients. Last New Year’s Eve running into New Year’s Day, he saw 37 — 20 of which were inebriated. And half of those patients were underage drinkers, Shewakramani said. A few had lacerations, but for the most part they were too drunk, or vomiting and not able to keep food down.
| Call for a SoberRide |
| The Washington Regional Alcohol Program, a coalition of local law enforcement and business sponsors, continues its SoberRide program this weekend, offering free cab rides to drivers who have been drinking. Free rides for up to $30 in cab fare are offered between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. on this Friday and Saturday nights. Call 800-200-TAXI for a ride. |
“It was a challenge,” Shewakramani said. “That was a rookie hazing, I believe. Thank God I’m off this year.”
The study findings were in line with what the health community already knows about alcohol-related problems during the winter holiday, according to its authors from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. For example, during Christmas and New Year’s, two to three times more people die in alcohol-related crashes than during comparable periods the rest of the year. And 40 percent of traffic fatalities during these holidays involve a driver who is alcohol-impaired.
The results of the study should be a wake-up call for parents, said Dr. Pete Delany, director of SAMHSA’s Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality.
“Parents are strong influencers in the lives of young people and must be vigilant in talking to their kids early and often about the physical and emotional health dangers associated with underage drinking,” Delany said.
Washington area law enforcement officials are urging sober drivers to report suspected drunk driving as soon as they witness it. Drivers should pull over and call 911 in D.C. or Maryland or #77 if in Virginia.
Given that on most nights of the week, citizen drivers outnumber police cruisers by at least 1,000 to 1, the safe drivers can have an impact, said Kurt Erickson of the Washington Regional Alcohol Program.
“If would-be drunk drivers grow increasingly fearful of being reported by their fellow motorists,” Erickson said, “we can potentially stop drunk driving before it starts.”
