It is all part of growing up.
Hanging with friends.
Going for a drive.
But what should not be a part growing up in Saskatchewan is getting into an vehicle crash because of drugs, alcohol, or distracted driving.
That is where Safe Communities comes in with their Prevent Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth, or PARTY program.
On May 11, students from HCI came to the Uniplex to take part, with a mock crash scene, talks from EMS, RCMP, an RN with the Humboldt Hospital, and survivors who have been affected by drinking and driving.
Shari Hinz with Safe Communities organized the event and she was very happy with how impactful and emotional the day went.
“Everyone was engaged and taking part,” says Hinz.
Watching the students as Humboldt RCMP, EMS, and Fire took part in a mock crash scene in Elgar Petersen Arena, the students were just glued to scene, says Hinz.
“The sounds, the emotional rise it gets out of you as you see the vehicles come into the arena, then seeing the victim...it’s as close to real life as you’re going to see.”
Renee MacKenzie attending the PARTY program on May 4 with a partner. She demonstrated to the students what happens if they would arrive at the hospital because of a crash with a training dummy.
It is an intense environment and MacKenzie gave them an idea of what they would do to a trauma patient, how it is going to feel, and try to get them to understand the situation while it is occurring.
“I don’t want to scare them but I want them to be aware that their actions can change their lives in a small space of time.”
During a trauma, the patient would have many things done to them, like having their clothes cut off, numerous tests, and checked for things like internal bleeding.
“It’s cold, and it’s noisy, and it’s bright, and it’s bright, and it’s scary,” says MacKenzie.
Another part of MacKenzie’s presentation was promoting blood and organ donation. For crash victim, emergency room staff need numerous pints of blood to keep them alive.
Jennifer Yausie was there as a physical therapist but also with a very personal story.
While going to school in Minot, ND, and returning back after a break, she encountered an accident on the highway.
As a physical therapy student, Yausie is also trained as a first responder and she stopped to assist.
It was not until after she got back to Minot that she was told that it was her friend, Sarah, who was in the same car she assisted with.
“Fortunately enough there was a lot of people there to help and everyone survived the accident but it was very traumatic to go through that and figure out who it was after the fact.”
Yausie says she had nightmares for a while after the accident but both her, and Sarah who is usually with Yausie to do the presentation, says they both enjoy doing it so the message hits home.
Yausie spoke about a little about her friend’s recovery, but mostly about the anatomy of the human body and why certain parts are more susceptible to injury. The spinal cord is like a cooked piece of spaghetti, she said.
Kelly Weber does not remember two years before her accident on May 16, 1998.
Her and her boyfriend were driving into Humboldt from Middle Lake when they were hit by an oncoming vehicle.
She was severely injured and spent 82 days in a coma after the accident.
She spoke in length about her recovery and how her accident has affected her and her family.
“I’m here today talking to all of you so hopefully you will make a smart choice in your life so you don’t have to go through what I’ve had to,” she told the sombre students.
Nine out of ten brain injuries are preventable, said Weber.
Brenda Shrader spoke at length about her experience with drinking and driving and had many reason to be there, including being a driver examiner with SGI in Humboldt, an advocate with MADD, a victim services volunteer, a mother, and a grandmother.
But the main reason she was there was as a sister to two brothers who died from drinking and driving.
First, her older brother killed himself and two passengers in a drunk driving crash when he was 18 years old.
Watching her parents have to bury their son, Shrader wanted everyone to think about what that did to them.
It was horrible, she said.
For Shrader, she lost someone who was supposed to be there to watch her get married and to meet her children.
“He should have been helping me get through a time like this instead of being the cause of it,” said Shrader.
The incident made Shrader terrified of drinking and driving. Unfortunately, the incident had the opposite affect on Shrader’s little brother, who died while drinking and driving at the age of 25 and had numerous problems with drinking and driving before he died.
“There’s not a day that goes by that I’d wished I’d done something different. Something that would have gotten him help.”
Shrader says she was not willing to lie to the students. She lied to her younger brother for years telling him was going to be okay. It was not.
No matter how difficult it was to get through her presentation, Shrader says that presenting to these students makes it feel like her brothers did not die in vain.
“I want somebody to learn from them,” says Shrader, “it gives me a reason for losing them.”
Drinking and driving is so socially acceptable in Saskatchewan, says Shrader, “but once something happens, you can’t go back.”
Constable Dave Maccarville and Constable Brianne Harten with Humboldt RCMP knows this well as they attend scenes in Saskatchewan that involve alcohol.
“When you’re that young...you think it won’t happen to me but unfortunately it only takes a split second for a bad decision to end in a tragic way.”
Legally, Harten and Maccarville walked the students through what would happen to them if they were the cause of a drinking and driving crash, from the time they are picked up by the police at the scene to the trial that would put them in jail.
However the students got to experience another outcome that is just as likely; what would happen if they were killed in a crash.
They spoke with coroners, Norbert Lablanc and Maria Leonard and went to Malinoski and Danyluik and Schuler and Lefebvre to discuss their roles when someone dies.
“We basically said, we don’t want to have to do this for you because you’re young,” says Leonard.
