Horton students learn to PARTY

BY A.L. SMITH

NovaNewsNow.com

Horton students received a shocking dose of reality this spring as part of the Career and Life Management curriculum.

While the end of year is always an exciting time for students, the Department of Health Protection and Promotion, in conjunction with the Department of Education, is working to ensure this season will be a safe one also.

The PARTY program, an acronym for Prevention of Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth, was created approximately 20 years ago by the staff of a Toronto hospital. Injury was and remains the leading cause of youth fatality and disability, especially in teens between 15 and 19. The Nova Scotia government’s specialized version of the program is aimed mostly at newly licensed teens, with special attention given to alcohol-related scenarios.

Nearly 130 students participating in the program follow the paths of six teens traveling home from a party in the early morning: none of them are seat-belted and the driver’s buzzing. Soon after the driver crashes into a telephone pole, graphic, but realistic, recreations of injury and death play across the screen.

While most students looked on somberly, the vivid portrayal was too much for a few. One student briefly lost consciousness. When asked for a response, the room was quiet.

“That’s intense,” said student Rob Tebogt.

“That’s the reality of it,” replied Cst. Greg Byrne, RCMP School Liaison Officer. “Those yellow blankets are real,” he added, referring to the coverings used for the deceased at a crash site. “I have three in my trunk. They’re still in the package and I hope they never come out.”

Trust your parents

The students, led by Byrne and Lynn Haines of the Department of Restorative Justice, discussed strategies to prevent crashes like the one they witnessed. However, Byrne was quick to point out what he likes to call the “yeah-buts,” the typical excuses used to justify reckless behaviour.

Both Byrne and Haines emphasized the importance of accepting short-term consequences over long-term disability or worse. They also urged students to trust their parents in helping them to be safe, even when they know their behaviour will be disappointing.

Continuing the presentation, the students learned about the procedures of an intensive care unit and the long road to recovery. There to help them grasp the concept was Claude Comeau, a Meteghan man who has seen the effects of drunk driving first-hand.

After getting behind the wheel intoxicated seven years ago, Claude had to rebuild his life. He lost his fiancée, career and ability to walk. Now literally back on his feet, Claude tried to make his experiences real to the Horton students.

“It’s very scary in reality,” Kara Turner said. Brielle Herritt added, “you don’t really think about it when you get in a car; that drunk drivers are a danger on the road.”

Haines also spoke with students about risk in other areas of their lives, and their right to know about and help prevent it.

Byrne said it was fair to say attitudes are slowly changing, even citing fistfights when sober friends try to take keys from would-be drunk drivers. He added regretfully that with any problem there is always a resistant portion of the population. Statistics agree: between 1999 and 2005 an estimated 8,420 persons were killed due to impaired driving.

While this first year of the program has run successfully, its future is doubtful. It has been run as part of the Career and Life Management course, a mandatory half credit for all high school students.

The province decided recently that the course will no longer be compulsory, which leads to questions regarding how students will receive such education in the future.