Emergency workers and hospital staff recently put on a show for Brooks Secondary School grade 11 students to give them a clear idea of the consequences of drinking and driving.
Over 150 students went through a series of stations at Powell River General Hospital (PRGH) which were part of a program called Prevention of Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youth (PARTY). The program was conducted from February 18 to February 20.
“We approach the issue from different angles,” said Constable Chris Bakker of Powell River RCMP. “It’s not just the things that could happen to yourself but what you could do to others.”
According to Insurance Corporation of BC (ICBC) statistics, one third of all alcohol-related crashes involve drivers between the ages of 16 and 25.
Rachel Hryniuk, PARTY program site coordinator and School District 47 drug and alcohol educator, worked with Bakker to make the event happen. The school district and community policing office were assisted by BC Ambulance Service, Powell River Fire Rescue and various departments at PRGH.
The program has received positive feedback through evaluations by students.
“One of our big focuses is education,” said Hryniuk. “We’re getting our prevention message across to the students and we plan to continue.”
This is the second time the program has run in Powell River, though it has been hosted in a number of communities across Canada and internationally.
The grade 11 class was divided into three groups with one attending each day. Students were bused to PRGH parking lot each morning where they witnessed first hand what happens in the aftermath of a car accident.
In this scenario a driver, who had been drinking, was out with a friend in a car doing doughnuts in the hospital parking lot. The driver lost control of the car and struck a light standard. The passenger in the car was killed as she was thrown through the windshield.
The driver and passenger, both volunteers, were made to look as if they had sustained real injuries. Volunteers from St. John Ambulance used fake blood and special effects props to simulate bone protruding out of the driver’s skin, such as what would be seen with a compound fracture.
“We want to be real from the beginning to the end,” said Terry Peters, Powell River Fire Rescue deputy chief. “It hits home better if we use real life scenarios.”
As the emergency responders arrived on scene the students saw the roles the responders played in dealing with an emergency. They watched firefighters extricate the driver from the crumpled car using a tool called the jaws-of-life and how paramedics loaded the driver into the ambulance for transport.
Once inside the hospital, students witnessed what the driver would go through in the major trauma room.
“It’s hard not to make it dramatic because it is a pretty dramatic situation,” said Andi Hagen, a registered nurse who works in the emergency room at PRGH. Hagen showed the students in graphic detail how they would be treated in the trauma room by showing them how the nurses would insert IVs (intravenous lines), breathing tubes and catheters. Hagen also showed them how they would re-inflate a collapsed lung.
“It’s difficult to make it nice because it isn’t,” said Hagen. “It’s a life-changing situation.” Hagen told the students that one in 10 casualties don’t make it out of the trauma room.
Students heard about the legal penalties of drunk driving and were invited to look inside the hospital’s morgue. They also heard a short talk.
At the end of the program students gathered in the hospital cafeteria to hear about the story of three women who were hit by a car in Powell River in 2004. Jody Lloyd, 51, died in the collision and Heather Parsons and Marianne Smisko received life-changing injuries. The 25-year-old driver who hit them had a history of drug abuse and seizures. Last year, Smisko and Parsons spoke to the students about their ordeal. This year a letter from Smisko was read.
“We just see these kind of tragic accidents far too often and they’re all preventable,” said Peters. “If we can convince one kid to make a smart choice, it’s all worthwhile.”
