'Gator Watch' to promote game-day safety

November 6, 2008

Over breakfast earlier this year, Lisa Gearan, wife of one of University of Florida's top orthopedic surgeons, shared a compelling story that spurred me to join her, Shands HealthCare and Student Government in a new campaign we hope will save the lives of students.

One weekend recently, Lisa's husband Peter spent a grueling 36 hours in the emergency room putting back together several of our students involved in car accidents and other trauma-related incidents.

Turns out, 75 percent of all deaths among people ages 15-24 are injury related. Most of these accidents occur on weekends – and among UF students, home football weekends. Devastating incidents such as these derail college careers and, in some cases, end lifelong goals.

In response, we spent the past few months developing a campaign called Gator Watch, designed to raise awareness in the community about trauma prevention on a high-risk football weekend, namely the match-up against South Carolina. Our goal is to prevent alcohol-related trauma in the 96 hours surrounding the football game, starting at 8 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 13, and ending at 8 a.m. Monday, Nov. 17.

Gator Watch is loosely based on the Student Sideline Safety Zone, a program designed to keep our students safe while attending the Florida-Georgia football game in Jacksonville.

In Gainesville, the success of Gator Watch depends upon you watching out for yourself and your friends or, if you will, Gators watching out for Gators. The fact is, behaviors can either save lives or take lives. I want to encourage everyone attending the game or even tuning in from home to:

• Watch out for each other
• Act responsibly
• Take a taxi
• Call for help
• Have fun

Please join us in Gator Watch. If we can prevent one death, then this campaign is absolutely worth it.

Chris Machen
UF First Lady