2011 UNC Nursing Annual Report 1 | Page 12

H E A LT H CA R E 06 NEW KNOWLEDGE Two years ago Chris McGrath stood on a high school football field, looked around at the mock crash site he’d helped stage and wondered whether his work was making a difference. It may be difficult for many of us to imagine some of the tragic accidents and human pain Chris has witnessed during his early career as an EMT, and now as a flight nurse for nearly a decade. He also had his share of that pain the day he came upon a motorcycle accident, where he found his own brother had died at the scene. In part, this is why staging mock crashes for high school students is profoundly meaningful for him. He is seeking to change wreckless driving behaviors for young drivers to spare others his family’s experience of loss and grief.