The girls in the P.A.R.T.Y. video are having a good time. They are pretty with curly blonde hair and wonderful animated faces. They giggle and lean over to talk to each other and shout. One girl – the driver – shows her friend – her passenger – a text on her phone. It's the kind of exchange that takes place thousands of times a day in every school and cafeteria, except these teens are not in a cafeteria. They are travelling at high speed on a highway in a car.
The youths watching the video are from Lorne Akins Junior High School and because they are at the Sturgeon hospital to take part in a P.A.R.T.Y. (Prevent Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youth) event, they have a sense that this whole scene is going to end badly. Many of the teens 14 and 15 years old cannot watch. They turn their heads away from the video that shows blonde heads whipped and slammed back and forth in the car and into the windshield. Some Lorne Akins students close their eyes.
They cannot shut out the screams. The screams from the driver are terrible to hear. She looks across and sees blood pouring out of her friend's mouth. She screams and screams and those screams pierce the heart but it's the cries from the vehicle the texting girl hit that are the most haunting. A wee voice calls out from that other smashed car. The camera flashes to a small child in a car seat, who apparently is unharmed. "Mommy! Daddy! Mommy! Daddy! Wake up!"
In the Sturgeon hospital conference room there is dead silence as the St. Albert youths process the grievous scene they just witnessed. But the video is just part of this day-long class where volunteers attempt to show the students the consequences of making careless, ill-thought-out decisions.
Stupid
"We call it the minute of stupid," said P.A.R.T.Y. co-ordinator Dean Krawec, as he explained that poor choices that are made in seconds could have long-term consequences.
Krawec began volunteering with St. Albert P.A.R.T.Y. in 2000. The program reaches hundreds of students every year at junior high schools in Sturgeon County, Morinville as well as St. Albert.
Krawec tells the students about the poor choice he made when he was at work. He did something "stupid" and got caught up in machinery. As a consequence he lost an arm and a leg and now is confined to a wheelchair.
"I didn't think then it was risk taking. I made a bad choice. It was my minute of stupid but I did a lot of stupider things before that," Krawec said.
At the P.A.R.T.Y. the focus is on how to make smart choices and even though none of the students is old enough to drive, there is a strong focus on driving safely.
The six rules of the P.A.R.T.Y. are easy to understand and follow:
• Drive sober without drugs or alcohol.
• Buckle up.
• Wear the gear, including helmets when taking part in activities whether riding on a bike, off-road vehicle or longboard.
• Get driver training. Get training for any activity or sport.
• Look before you leap. Think about the best way to handle uncomfortable situations, such as a party where people have been drinking and are now planning to drive.
• Seek help. "Be honest with your parents if you need a ride home. Planning is part of it," Krawec said.
Through the day the students hear from an RCMP officer and paramedics, who tell them about what it's like to be at an accident. The video they watched was shot in Australia, but the paramedics bring the facts closer to home with shots of collisions on St. Albert Trail and in front of St. Albert Place.
Students hear from a nurse, who shows them photos of what happens to the body after terrible accidents. She explains how a respirator works and tells the kids that anyone on a respirator cannot easily speak. She shows them a sheet-covered hospital gurney.
At lunch the youths try different devices, such as goggles, designed to show them what it feels like to be impaired. With the goggles on, it's difficult to navigate never mind walk a straight line.
Finally Krawec tells them his own truth. It's one job he can do from a wheelchair.
"I ask them to think of three things they like to do. Then I ask them how they would handle it if they couldn't do those things anymore. I ask them to know where their own stupid line is, so they don't cross it," he said.
Though he has volunteered to host this P.A.R.T.Y. for 16 years, Krawec is realistic about the results. He's watched countless young teens as they became quiet and turned their heads from the videos. He's seen the reactions on their young faces as they hear him speak. There's no way to know whether the frightening things they see and hear will stay with them.
"I don't expect them to change their lives dramatically. All I can hope is that they slow down and think and try things that are safe," he said.
