This scenario was acted out before the eyes of Jasper’s Grade 9 students last week, as part of the P.A.R.T.Y. Program—“prevent alcohol and risk-related trauma in youth.”
Students watched as the victims were taken from the vehicle on stretchers and then they followed emergency responders and Lorraine—the passenger—into the hospital. There, they watched as doctors and nurses tried to stabilize and resuscitate her.
During the enactment, two students had to leave the room and another fainted.
Paul Schmidt of Victim Services said that’s not the intention of the program, but because the scenario is so realistic, it does happen from time to time that students have physical reactions.
The program, which is used across the country to teach youth to make responsible choices, is meant to show them that their “It couldn’t happen to me” attitude is unfounded.
To bring that message home, the students heard from Derrick Winters, who on Sept. 2, 2005 made the decision to drink and drive with his best friend, Pat.
“It was horrible,” he told the students. “Nothing good came out of it.”
Winters and his friend were driving south of Edmonton. They were going about 140 km/h when they crashed. Pat was thrown from the vehicle the length of a football field. Winters was also thrown and the Jeep rolled over him.
Pat died and Winters was in a coma for two weeks. He broke his neck, his back, his skull and he lost substantial amounts of his internal organs. For two years of his recovery, he lived in Jasper with his mom. While here, he had to relearn how to do everything.
“Everything I lost, I had to struggle to get back. I lost five years of my life,” he said, referring to his recovery.
Winters told the students that when he was their age, he was the guy sitting in his chair thinking, “Yeah right. That’ll never happen to me.
“But, it was one day. One stupid choice and now I’ll wake up everyday and not have my best friend beside me.”
Winters, who now lives in Calgary, has been coming to Jasper for the past five years to speak as part of the P.A.R.T.Y. Program.
To close his talk, he said, “If it stops one of you from drinking and driving, my job is done.”
