WESTLOCK – Learning to recognize risk and make informed choices was part of the important message youth heard when Preventing Alcohol and Related Trauma in Youth (PARTY), resumed after a two-year pause, on March 16.
On March 16, emergency services members with the Town of Westlock and Westlock County, RCMP, Victim Services, ambulance services, and others, presented the day-long program to about 60 R.F. Staples School students during the educational sessions at the Royal Canadian Legion and a demonstration at the Westlock fire hall.
“This is more of a sober thought about your actions, whether it’s innocent actions or you’re experimenting with drugs and alcohol. Those types of actions do have consequences,” said fire chief, Stuart Koflick. “Our job is prevention, as much as possible and that’s really the motivation for this.”
During the event, students heard from speakers who shared real-life experiences with risk-related trauma including peace officers, injury survivors, first responders. Others included fire, police and EMS personnel, as well as testimonies from trauma services, and rehabilitation survivors. “The last guest speaker was a former Calgary police officer who lost her father in a fiery collision near Drayton Valley some time ago,” said Koflick.
One of the Grade 9 students who participated in the event was 14-year-old Jenna Snyder. She noted the importance of youth learning the lessons behind the program.
“It’s very important that people learn about the effects that drugs and alcohol, and even texting have while driving,” said Snyder, noting she’s had family members involved in collisions where other drivers were impaired.
Snyder said students learned how emergency workers assess collisions, using colour codes from green to black for each victim, and proceed with extractions accordingly.
“They have what’s called the ‘golden hour’ for the victims — that’s (the time) from when the collision happens to when they get to a trauma hospital, and that’s your best chance of surviving, within that hour,” she said.
During the extraction demonstration, a student is usually chosen to participate, to give them a first-hand account and the experience of what is involved in a collision situation.
“The purpose of that is to give them an understanding of what happens. If you’re in a vehicle that’s involved in a collision and you’re trapped — all those sounds, sights, smells. Then they can go on and tell the rest of the students, that what loud or that was scary or I never want to be in that position,” explained Koflick.
Grade 9 students at schools across the region, including St. Mary School, and Eleanor Hall School, are expected to participate in additional sessions later this spring.
“The message is, be safe out there,” said Koflick. “As you grow into a young adult, you’re going to be experimenting or experiencing all these new kinds of things and just to keep in mind that your actions do have consequences. Those consequences impact more than just yourself and the ones you’re with at the time - it impacts a lot of different people.”
