Man urges safety when working with electricity

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Gregg Wright from Hendricks Power gives a demonstration to the students. Ryan Palencer/Flyer Photo

November 23, 2009

By Ryan Palencer The Hendricks County Flyer Mon Nov 23, 2009, 04:52 PM EST

BROWNSBURG — Among many other things, Thanksgiving is known for turkey and the beginning of Christmas preparation.

While doing said Christmas decorating, members of Hendricks Power and Safe Electricity, a public awareness program of the Energy Education Council, urge you to be safe.

“Millions of people will be (hanging Christmas decorations this weekend),” said Molly Hall, executive director of Safe Electricity. “Yes, we have some eager folks out there who have already started decorating, but traditionally the day after Thanksgiving is when we see a lot of holiday displays going up. The decorating continues up until Christmas day. The unfortunate thing is that every year there are accidents where people throw their lights up into a tree and either they couldn’t see the power lines overhead or they’ve seen them so many times that they just faded from view.”

While doing some Christmas decorating a few years ago, a Roachdale man lived the danger firsthand.

“It was a routine activity that me and my mother did together, hanging Christmas lights after Thanksgiving,” Shawn Miller said. “Every year, we would add a new area. That year, we added some trees that line the front of the road.”

As Miller tossed a strand of lights into one of the trees, his life changed forever.

“I came into contact with 7,200 volts of electricity,” he said. “I’m not sure how it happened. I don’t really recall.”

Though he survived, it was not without a battle. Miller said that doctors gave him no chance to live.

“It put me in a coma for six days and 30 days later I am out of the hospital,” Miller said.

Miller suffered 27 exit wounds, lost his left arm and his index finger on his right. Miller also endured 31 surgeries.

Prior to the accident, Miller had never thought about the hazards that those power lines presented.

“I never even thought about it that morning when I was doing it,” he said. “It was the house that I grew up in and the power lines just became part of the scenery”

Miller has now teamed up with Safe Electricity to aid the education of children through the “Teach Learn Care” campaign.

“It has just helped me move on with my life and helped me help other people not make the same mistakes,” he said. “My scars are obvious, but what it did to my children, my wife, my family, and my friends is what people don’t see. This helps me get the word out to others to be aware of their surroundings ... If me doing this saves one person, I am grateful that I have the opportunity to do it.”

The campaign made a visit to Brownsburg’s Cardinal Elementary on Monday morning.

Miller coaches football and basketball and has received many questions from children.

“(The response has) mainly been good,” Miller said. “There are a lot of people shocked that I am alive and doing what I do, as if it never happened. They ask me what happened and I explain it to them. This is my way of getting the message out a little more.”

Hall thinks that it is crucial to pass the knowledge on to children.

“I think when you take kids this age, they go home and tell mom and dad what they learned today,” Hall said. “They educate the whole family. That’s the essence for the ‘Teach Learn Care’ campaign — teach what you know, learn what you need to, care enough to share it with those that you love. Often times, the message is for parents and caregivers to share it with the younger ones. In this case, the younger ones take it home to the rest of the family.

“In fact, we’ve heard from folks who said, ‘My child saved the family because when we had a power line down in the yard,’” Hall said. “The child knew what to do because they had seen the program at school. We hear those stories every now and then. I think that educating school age kids is very important.”

For more information about electrical safety, visit the website www.SafeElectricity.org.

ryan.palencer@flyergroup.com

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