Grade 10 students in 100 Mile House got a thorough experience of what it’s like to die or suffer brain or bodily damage as a result of drunk driving.
The Prevent Alcohol & Risk-Related Trauma in Youth (P.A.R.T.Y.) Program took place in 100 Mile House on April 26. The students were guided through every step of the program by retired coroner and facilitator of the local P.A.R.T.Y. Program Laura Dewar.
“We’ve lost a lot of teenagers and certainly the death of a teenager in any small community is just devastating. It impacts everyone, not just the mums and the dads. It’s the emergency personnel and the community at large… That’s really how we got started any why we started this program.”
The P.A.R.T.Y Program is international and it was started back in the 1980s by emergency nurses at Sunnybrook Hospital who, according to Dewar, were really getting very frustrated with the number of preventable injuries that were coming through the emergency department.
“They started this whole program, so it’s really spread throughout Canada. In many cases it’s started by the RCMP. Sometimes it’s started by physicians. In our case, we started in 1999 for exactly the same reason. In this case it was the police that initiated it who grew very frustrated with seeing young teens doing things that put their lives at risk.”
According to Dewar, the students end up being very engaged and ask very thoughtful questions.
“Today has been tremendous. The day comes together because we have so many dedicated volunteers,” which included RCMP from as far away as Prince George, health care workers, Fire Rescue and survivors. “Right now the number of volunteers is probably almost equal to the number of students here.”
Students started the day speaking to the survivor of a drunk driving crash.
“He lays down what happened to him. He shows his injuries. He tells what it’s like to live with a permanently disabling injury. He tells them what it was like before. The Kelly before and the Kelly after, so to speak and he really lays it out. He doesn’t hold anything back and is very open to any questions. The kids really get an idea of what it’s like. You’re not gonna be able to wipe your own butt.”
Next, the organizers had hands-on activities for the students to experience what it’s like to suffer from a brain injury with three stations including a sensation station, a vision impairment station and experiencing what it’s like to have to relearn how to write.
Then a brain injury survivor spoke to the students.
In the afternoon, students experienced a mock crash scenario followed by an emergency room scenario, followed by an explanation of the procedures the coroner would take in the event of a drunk driving death.
Hannah Valihora, one of the grade 10 students, says she thought it was really well done and really realistic.
“I think it would definitely make me think twice about any actions I might have in the future,” she says.
“It impacts you because you realize that it’s not always someone else. It can be someone close to you or you.”