The Discovery Health Channel plans to feature employees of Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) in an upcoming show about the dangers of lightning and electricity.
Medical expert “Dr. Know” and a production crew recently came to SMECO’s Hughesville headquarters to videotape a Hot Line Demonstration, which is part of the Cooperative’s safety education strategy. Staging the demonstration for Discovery Health was Mike Nygaard, system safety supervisor for SMECO, and providing narration was J.R. Grow, job training and safety manager. The demonstration simulates how kite strings and aluminum ladders can be dangerous when they come into contact with live power lines. To show what electricity can do to the human body, one part of the demonstration involves sending high voltages through a hot dog.
Discovery Health will use the Hot Line Demonstration in an episode of “Dr. Know” in the first quarter of 2006. Dr. Know, whose real name is Dr. Paul Trotman, uses the series to debunk, deflate, discredit, and demystify medical myths and folk tales about health.
This will be the second time that SMECO’s Hot Line Demonstration has appeared on national television. In July, ABC’s “Good Morning America” aired a live broadcast of the demonstration as part of a segment about the hazards of electricity.