Where's the P.A.R.T.Y.

P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth)

In our area the grade 9 students attend this P.A.R.T.Y to show them the risks involved in making bad choices and the effects of those bad choices.  This program takes the kids to the hospital for a whole day of lectures, videos and hands on 'training' to show them what could happen to them if they took risks without thinking through to the consequences.  I personally think this is a great program and if you have a chance for your teen to participate in one or something similar jump on it. 

The day started off with a trip to the ER in which they were told what would happen to them if they were brought in to the ER after a risk leading to injury...they told the kids all their expensive clothes would be cut off of them, showed them the IV needles, how they would keep them breathing if they stopped, inserted a catheter into the dummy and showed them the liquid charcoal that they would have to take if they came in with alcohol overdose.  Explaining many things that happen in the ER and told them straight forward how it goes a couple of things they told them I thought were great… 

1. There is only 4 ways out of the ER, walking, going upstairs to be monitored, being air lifted to the major hospital (we live in a little town 3 hours from the big city), or to the morgue.
2. You think you are all grown up and responsible that you can handle anything including drinking and drugs, but who has your ID and your health care card…your Mommy.
3. If you are here for alcohol overdose and you have your stomach flushed out with liquid charcoal you will be sent upstairs to be monitored for a bit and when the charcoal does its thing and you are leaving a trail like a snail, you’ll want the nurses to help you and they will not be so willing….Why is that?  Because it is a self-inflicted wound and they don’t have time to deal with your stupidity. 

Then they got a tour of the ambulance and explained how it works when you call them, even showed them the huge needle and plastic casing used for IV after all teenagers love needles J They straped a boy down to the back board and flipped him upside down to show what they would do if he wanted to throw up…really shut that smart a@@ kid up quick…really wish I had a picture of that one J  Since Connor was with us for the day the EMT gave him a moose, he was so excited.

We then had a lecture about what the ambulance crew does, and some of the things they have to deal with, they gave a powerpoint presentation that Connor and I missed out on since it was pretty graphic.  They used the song Untitled by Simple Plan and I think that is a perfect song due to the meaning of the song…if you don’t know it you should watch the video it is amazing…

Then it was on to lunch.  All of the students were given disabilities they had to deal with while trying to eat their lunch this list included everything from partial blindness to quadriplegic and every thing in between.  You should have seen these kids you would have thought that you have incapacitated their brains as well as their arms they couldn’t figure out how to do the simplest of things like getting the straw off of a juice box.  (That is what my daughter and her friend Ashley are trying to do in this picture)

Ariel started off pretty easy, she had a brace on her left hand and a pair of glasses that removed her peripheral vision.  But the organizers thought that was too easy so they then told her that her right arm was completely immobile so she had to sit on her hand…that made her life a lot more difficult.

Since Connor wasn’t really part of the class he wasn’t given any disabilities but he kept grabbing the glasses that the kids didn’t want…they seemed to be fine with not having use of their arms or legs but they hated not being able to see, go figure.  One kid ended up with a tensor bandage wrapped around his eyes because he wouldn't keep his glasses on.

Then it was on to a class about rehabilitation and what injuries each choice could give them, the six good choices listed in P.A.R.T.Y. are

1. Look first
2. Buckle up
3. Drive Sober
4. Get Trained
5. Wear The Gear
6. Seek Help

The instructor gave them a scenario for each one of these risks that they could find themselves in and then told them what type of injuries they could end up with if they didn’t use these good choices.  Then he would tell them ‘okay you didn’t use your head and you ended up in this situation now I want you to try and live with your disability’.  So they ended up a quadriplegic and had to write their rent cheque…

Here is Ariel's cheque (they were supposed to sign their names on the bottom with their hand to see just how differnt they were) then they explained that the bank would not cash this cheque because their signatures were totally wrong.  Then the bank wouldn't know who they were as they wouldn't look like their ID because of the physical changes due to the accident....it could take them months to get things straightened out.

The next scenario left them without the use of their dominant hand, they had to put on their jackets/sweaters without using their dominant hand...it was funny watching them figure out how they were supposed to do it...just like their lunch it seems they lost the use of their brains as well as their hands :)

Connor ended up doing up Ariel's sweater because she just couldn't get it.

This scenario also left them with double vision so they had to take a math test...this is the test.  They had to take it with their non-dominant hand and in 1 minute...it was difficult I took it as well and I only got 4 right, not because I couldn't write with my left hand (had lots of practice with that as a teenager) but because I couldn't read the numbers, the double vision thing got me bad.  

They had other scenarios which left them paraplegic and they had to lift themselves into their wheel chairs with their arms, exercises lifting themselves up with their arms until they whined that they couldn't do it anymore (to simulate what they would have to go through in rehab).   Connor was the only one who thought it was fun :)

They put one girl on a huge exercise ball and tied a rope to her waist and moved her around to show them how they had to learn to balance when they didn’t have the use of the muscle from the waist down.  Finally they had a young man (24 from what I have been told) that came in and told them all about the stupid choices he has made and the injuries he got from these stupid choices...  He told them about the effects of alcohol, drugs and caffeine.  Overall I thought it was an amazing thing for the kids to participate in....hopefully it actually effects them and doesn't just go in one ear and out the other.