Replies to '10/14 Campus Crisis'

Hi Dr Phil and Robin :

I worked in an Emergency Room  as a Registered Nurse where there was a private catholic university literally 2 minutes away from our back door.  Every Friday and Saturday, like clockwork ,we could depend on the ambulances rolling in with students who had too much to drink on campus. Some worse than others.  Pretty much the same protocol for everyone.  Nasal gastric tube, Foley catheter, IV sometimes 2,  oxygen if needed and continual blood draws throughout the shift to make sure the alcohol levels were coming down.  Then in 8, 10, 12 hours when their levels were safe enough for discharge they would be released either to the RA(resident adviser) or the parents. What frustrated me the most as a nurse and a parent who had sent 4 of my own children off to college was that,  when the parents were called, they were so amazed that it was their kid  we were talking about.  Almost as if  we made the entire story up just to make them miserable by waking them up in the middle of the night.  The disbelief was amazing to me.  Not my kid was the response we heard more often than not.  And  as always it was the fault of the school.  Ok moms and dads  take the blinders off.  Stop thinking its everyone else's responsibility to take care of our kids. Start taking ownership.  We send our kids out into the world  so do we assume their gonna do the worst? Truly free for the first time.  We hope and pray we have instilled enough good judgment and morals so they can survive and we get to hope for the best.  Well after a couple of years of this foolish behavior, the hospital administration met with the University's administration.  With the combined efforts of both  institutions, the incidences were reduced dramatically. The team approach parents, students,  school and hospital staff  working  together for the good of one goal.  To keep our children safe, even if for one more day.