It’s important to PARTY, even in a pandemic, says Island Health.

PARTY stands for Prevent(ing) Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth. The prevention and awareness program put on by Island Health is usually a regular part of Grade 10 for students across the Island, but it’ll look a little different this year.

The program usually sees Grade 10 students travelling to their local hospital, where they would learn from first responders — such as police officers, paramedics, firefighters, emergency room doctors and nurses — and trauma survivors about what it’s like to experience physical trauma.

However, the PARTY program has moved online this year, due to visitor restrictions at hospitals. The goal is to teach students how to recognize potentially injury-producing situations so that they can make informed choices and minimize their own risk when they’re met with a similar situation.

The program will be delivered through video-conferenced volunteer presentations this year. Those presentations will include people like Jeff Eisen, an emergency room physician who shares what it’s like to regularly see patients with severe and preventable injuries. Another volunteer presenter will be Brenda Clayton, a brain injury survivor who tells the story of her car crash.

READ: Sooke school superintendent says student safety a paramount concern

Island Health says the program highlights how decisions a young person makes can lead to injuries that could change their life forever.

Another person that will tell their story through the program is Cody Johnson, who survived a crash that threw him from his truck’s front window, into a wire fence. He tells students about what he and his family went through after the crash, which killed three of his best friends.

“What I hope the students take away from my live, virtual presentation is definitely not to make the same mistakes I did,” said Johnson, in an Island Health release.

Goldstream News Gazette