The PARTY program (Preventing Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma for Youth) gave a second information session on May 31, this time for 108 Grade 9 and 10 students from Humboldt Collegiate Institute and Muenster School.
Organized by Safe Communities Humboldt and Area (SCHA), and sponsored by the Saskatoon Health Region (SHR), the day-long program aims to give high school students a realistic view of the worst-case scenarios that can be caused by drinking and driving and other unsafe behaviour.
"I hope you take away one thing from today that prevents you from trying high risk-taking behaviour," said Tracey Shewciw of SCHA. "This program is aimed at any kind of risk-taking, alhough statistics show that alcohol seems to be the prime factor in most accidents."
The day began with a mock crash scene at the Elgar Petersen Arena where students watched different emergency response teams carry out their duties exactly as it would happen at the scene of a road accident. Two vehicles were staged as if they had just been involved in a crash, and three bodies were found, needing to be dealt with.
The local RCMP, Fire Department and Primary Response Paramedics (PRP) units arrived on the scene simultaneously and began the work of assessing the medical needs of each victim while PRP supervisor Dave Mortensen gave the students a play-by-play description of what each team was doing. This included removing a "dead" corpse from the hood of a vehicle, escorting the driver of one of the vehicles to be administered with a breathalyzer test, and prying open the car door and breaking the windshield to extract the third victim, unconscious, from the driver's seat of the other car.
After the mock scene crash, students assembled in Jubilee Hall for a short slide presentation by Mortensen, who spoke about how many times the PRP are called to an accident scene only to find that they have neglected to observe basic safety measures.
"The PARTY program is not just about drinking and driving, but about being safe," Mortensen said. "There are other physical activities that need to be practised safely, such as skateboarding, roller blading, even diving into water, where you have to take precautions.
"Life is about making choices, taking risks, and making decisions," he said, adding that inside each of us there is a sense of what is dangerous, and we need to listen to that voice.
The day's activities continued with students attending four different sessions that covered emergency room procedures, physical rehabilitation and therapy for post-accident victims, the effects of alcohol consumption on the body, and a slide show presentation of photos taken at the scenes of MVAs by the RCMP.
At the end of the day, all interveners had the same wish and the same message for the students: to take responsibility for themselves and for their friends where risk-taking is concerned.
Mortensen summed it up in a few words, saying "if you're going to go out and have some fun, here are the key points to remember: Get trained - Driver sober - Wear the gear - Buckle up - Look first - and Be our HERO."
