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In an effort to promote safety on the road during the past holiday season, paramedics and emergency medical technicians wore fluorescent Mothers Against Drunk Driving forearm sleeves while working on ambulances in Maui County.

All 83 American Medical Response employees in Maui County were issued the sleeves with the MADD Hawaii logos. They were worn for two weeks from Dec. 20 to Jan. 3.

“We felt this was the best time to implement the sleeves and to bring awareness,” said paramedic Vance Kaauamo. “This is the more typical time of drinking and gatherings. In the future, we do plan on wearing them through the entire holiday season.”

Kaauamo and emergency medical technician Darrin Rowan initiated the effort, working with MADD Hawaii, American Medical Response, Maui County Paramedics Association and Shaka Mouse printing in Kihei.

Theresa Paulette, victims service specialist for MADD Hawaii, said the organization was impressed with the idea. She said Kaauamo got approval from MADD to use the logo and worked within the organization’s guidelines.

“We were fully supportive of their idea and the final product,” Paulette said.

The MADD national office wasn’t aware of any other MADD chapter or emergency medical service in the country doing anything similar, she said.

“I think it’s a great idea and would like to spread the word with other first responders,” she said.

It cost less than $300 for the arm sleeves, with funding provided by the Maui County Paramedics Association, Kaauamo said.

It isn’t unusual for emergency medical services professionals, who are up at all hours of the night, to see drunken drivers swerving on the roads in the early-morning hours while returning from a call, he said.

“It’s always hard to follow someone home who’s swerving, hoping that they don’t get into an accident in front of you,” Kaauamo said. “So, yes, you will hear medics calling in to dispatch reporting a possible drunk driver that we may witness on our way home.”

He recalled one of the most horrific drunken-driving crashes on Maui that occurred on Kula Highway in 2012 when five young people were killed. They were passengers in a sedan that was torn in half when it collided with another vehicle, according to police.

When he arrives on the scene of a vehicle accident, Kaauamo said he has to address work priorities and is concerned with life and death.

“The cause of the injury is of concern at the time, but I feel the emotional part of the situation doesn’t affect me personally in the heat of the moment,” he said.

But later, “when the aftermath is over and the patient is transferred to a higher level of care, there is a moment of reflection time,” he said.

“It is at this moment that I am personally affected by the emotions of what I just witnessed,” he said. “Knowing that someone’s decision to drive impaired caused the incident is a tough pill to swallow, especially when lives are affected.”

Medics hope to make the project an annual event and expand it beyond Maui County, he said.

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