P.A.R.T.Y. Program a Sobering Experience for Local Youth

P.A.R.T.Y. Program a Sobering Experience for Local Youth

Michelle Pinon - News Advertiser

Around 100 youth from Two Hills and Myrnam participated in a one-day interactive injury and prevention program on May 11.

The event was sponsored by the Two Hills & Area Victim Services and was held at the Two Hills Centennial Hall and the Two Hills Mennonite School. It included Grade 9, 10 and 11 students from Two Hills School, Two Hills Mennonite School and New Myrnam School.

Prevent Alcohol Related Trauma in Youth, (P.A.R.T.Y.) Program got underway around 9:15 am in the parking lot of the Two Hills Centennial Hall with Melonie Gillis (Mazurek) placing a 911 call for assistance following a mock collision involving a drunk driver. The same scenario played out at Two Hills Mennonite School. The mock collision involved members of the Two Hills Fire Department, Prairie EMS, Two Hills RCMP and Victim Services.

Josie Lutzak, a Grade 10 student from Two Hills School, portrayed the drunk driver at the mock scene outside of the Centennial Hall. She was joined by fellow student actors Maddie Boettcher, who played the deceased victim, and Julia Dolejsi, who played the other crash victim.

Lutzak said she knows of people whose lives have been affected by drinking and driving. “It’s not just something that happens in the movies or you read about it in the newspaper.”

Some people were laughing at the mock scene. Lutzak commented that, “It’s no joke. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you, do you want to throw it away on a drink.”

She said the mock collision didn’t feel real, but admitted that at the same time you realize it could affect you for the rest of your life. “If I had actually done this, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself.”

Two Hills Fire Chief Marj Skoropadyk told the students that one mistake could cost them everything. While they come across these tragic scenes, Skorpadyk said they could prevent such a thing from happening and implored them think twice before getting behind the wheel or in a vehicle with a drunk driver.

Mock collision scene.

(Michelle Pinon/Photos)

Melonie Gillis (Mazurek) serves as Program Manager for the Two Hills & Area Victim Services Unit. She said, “P.A.R.T.Y. is a national organization of which Two Hills Victim Services is a member. They provide resources and guidelines to do the program. Two Hills Victim Services relies on donations from the community and government grants to fund these programs.

The P.A.R.T.Y. Program would also not be possible without volunteers, approximately 60 in total, including first responders who all donate their services.

Their mission is Prevent Alcohol and Related Trauma in Youth by promoting injury prevention through reality education, enabling youth to recognize risk and make informed choices about activities and behaviours.”

P.A.R.T.Y. Program goals are to: •increase awareness of behaviour that puts teenagers at risk •increase teenagers ability to recognize and make informed safe choices about potentially dangerous situations •increase knowledge of the impact of serious injury on lifestyle •increase awareness of personal responsibility for actions •promote active participation in injury prevention •reduce the incidence of risk related trauma in youth

P.A.R.T.Y. was developed in 1986 at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Ontario through a request from a group of youth.

As of June 2012, there are over 100 sites around the world, seventy-two if which are operating in Canada, with the remainder of the sites in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Japan and Germany.