Keeping in mind that there is nothing foolproof, here are some practical medical tidbits for you to know and share - with other parents and teens.
1) "Passing out" is no joke - Passing out has been glorified and joked about so often in our society that people (especially teens) don't recognize it for what it is - a near-death state. Clinically, the difference between unresponsive versus not-breathing is tiny. Massive kudos should go to the person who finally called 911 that night on Hillcrest Drive - it is a big step, but it shouldn't be. Teens, parents, and friends should know that when someone is slumped, you need to act. How precisely do you act? First, if you can't get a person to sit up and talk, go straight to 911. This is true whether it's a teen in a hallway, a girl in a frat house, or a homeless person you can't get to wake up. Calling 911 in this situation is actually NOT a drastic step, but a medically indicated one. Counsel your teen that if he or she feels too intimidated or vulnerable to take this step, they should call 911 by stepping into the bathroom alone. Say your name, your location, the fact that there is a person unresponsive and that you don't feel safe about stepping forward, but you want someone to come. Believe me, they'll come.
2) Slumped but able to talk if prodded - what do you do? Here's the deal: you can never know how fast alcohol may be peaking in someone's blood, or exactly how much was drunk over what period of time. If you don't feel comfortable calling 911 for this type of situation (which, especially in teens, you still should), then someone needs to be assigned to that person for the next four hours, minimum. Even then, if any of the following rules are broken, you go straight to 911. What are the rules? 1) no more drinks - if you've got a belligerent semi-arousable drunk on your hands and no one else will help you keep the drinks away, call 911. 2) breathing too slowly - if someone is breathing less than 12 times a minute, call 911. This one's an absolute indication - it means that even if you can prod or shake the person awake, their body's urge to breathe has sunk too low. They need to be in a hospital. 3) no longer waking up - if the person stops being shake-awake-able, call 911. They don't have to drink any more to get worse - it may be that the alcohol he/she already drank is now peaking. 4) snoring - snoring was Heath Ledger's last cry for help. For more on this topic, check out 9 Practical Tips on How To Avoid A Death Like Heath Ledger's. When people are very drunk, or drugged, "snoring" is actually not real snoring, but often a form of partial airway obstruction. A very alarming, particular type of snoring is when a person snores both on the inhale and the exhale - that's called stridor and it is an absolute indication that someone needs to call 911. Bottom line: A designated person has to commit to staying with anyone who's nodding-off drunk. That's what friends do (re-watch Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist for a refresher). If you're in this situation, ask if anyone is going to watch over the nodding-off-drunk person. If no one's around, or no one can, call 911. If calling 911 doesn't seem okay, at least call parents anonymously, or possibly even campus police. And even if there's someone designated as watcher and the person can be shaken awake, if any of these rules are broken, call 911. Don't give a person who's drowsy coffee or food, or you might end up with the next situation:
3) Drowsy and puked on themselves - what now? Puking up and inhaling your vomit can kill you. Just imagine what all those acidic chunks could do to fragile, filmy-pink lung tissue. Puking down yourself also means you're not able to (as we say in medicine ) "protect your airway." It's a sign you can't be left alone. You may read in medical articles that puking means the person should be rolled on his/her side so they can't inhale stuff - but the actual fact is that he/she really can't be left alone. At all. No one can possibly know how bad the situation will get before it gets better. Get professional help.
4) Watch the person, not the drinks - Two shots many seem like "nothing" to an experienced drinker. But to someone who's never had a drink, and may be taking prescription anti-anxiety meds (or something else, even recreationally), that's enough to kill. Don't dismiss clear warning signs because you or the people around you believe someone hasn't had "enough" alcohol to cause trouble. Everyone is different and what counts is what you see.
5) How vulnerable is this person? Leaving behind a drunk but possibly shake-awake-able 17 year-old-girl in a frat house is not okay. If you see someone in a bad situation (boy or girl), don't leave them to be a victim, even if the alcohol may not (possibly) kill them. Assess the situation. If it seems like there is a disaster in the making, call 911. Teach your kids to use common sense and trust their gut instincts. They're usually right.
6) It takes a village - if you're a parent or a neighbor, you need to be nosy. I have a friend whose mom actually took a flashlight at a teen party and scoured the bushes in the back of a large property. Thank God she did - she found a "passed out" (read: near-death) kid slumped under leaves, someone who'd brought his own stash of alcohol from home. We all like to make fun of the grouchy old geezer who calls the police when it looks like underage teens are staggering around drunk - until a tragedy like this occurs. Then we wish there were more of them. Go ahead, be one. You could save a life.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/gurley/detail?entry_id=44141&tsp=1
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