TSS IN FOCUS
Program T Excursion Callum Whitton Year 10 Student
ogether with a group of other Year 10 boys, myself, Mr Stansbie, Ms Anderson and Ms Howley were fortunate to be able to attend the P.A.R.T.Y (Prevention of Alcohol and Risk related Trauma in Youth) program, which took place at the Gold Coast University Hospital. The P.A.R.T.Y program is run by medical professionals including nurses, doctors, nurse practitioners, paramedics, occupational therapists and physiotherapists and aims to educate teens about the risks of drinking, doing drugs and the potentially life changing consequences that can happen as a result. The great thing about the program is that all of these people who are contributing are volunteering their time because they see the effects this risk-taking behaviour has every day, as a consequence of the work that they do. We arrived and after walking inside realised we had to go up a floor. Due to the large number of students attending we took the public elevators where one group got stuck inside so it was an interesting start to the day! For the first part of the day we learned about what drugs and alcohol can do to your body as well as the effects they have on you and also your family. We did an activity where we used ‘beer goggles’ that not only impaired our vision, but also our motor function and we had to wear them while doing a variety of tasks. It
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Band of Brothers
did not make things easy. We then saw some graphic examples of what happens when you take these risks. The outcomes weren’t pleasant. The staff were able to describe the injuries that people had sustained and showed us images of the situations that resulted. We also considered putting ourselves in the position of medical professionals and the family members who are supporting the trauma victims. This was an intense session and we needed a little break to eat and get ready for the next activities of the day. We then went into an intensive care unit, learning about a boy named Alex and the story of his accident, including the various decisions that had been taken that led to it occurring. We also went through a reallife emergency room scenario where all the boys had different roles to play, to get a real feel of what would actually happen in the trauma unit. Again this was quite a confronting experience - one of us had to make the decision to stop giving CPR and another boy was playing the role of caring for the parents and having to tell them that their child had passed away. In the afternoon, we moved through a series of workshops with the physio, occupational therapist and speech pathologist. We looked at how trauma patients
