The Olds Albertan has learned of a horrible collision at Olds' Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on 57 Avenue.There are reports at least one person could die in the crash and a power line may be down at the scene.The collision is scheduled to take place just a little over three weeks from now.Don't worry, the crash is a mock scenario carried out by local emergency responders and Olds High School as part of the P.A.R.T.Y. Program and is meant to show students the consequences of making bad choices involving alcohol.This is the second year Olds is putting on a mock crash as part of the P.A.R.T.Y.—which stands for Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth—Program and Lana Cissell, a coordinator for the event and a parent volunteer at the high school, said she is hoping Grade 10 students will come away with an “understanding of what the other side of their decision will look like” should they choose to drink and drive.“Because they don't always have the ability to imagine or visualize or see themselves in a bad position. Mostly it's an opportunity to outline the outcomes,” she said.According to documents on the program's website, the P.A.R.T.Y. Program is meant “to provide useful, relevant information to young people about injury (trauma) that will enable participants to recognize potential injury-producing situations, make informed prevention choices and adopt behaviours and actions that minimize risk.”Last year's event involved emergency responders such as police, firefighters, paramedics and hospital staff, with the school's grade 10 and 11 students playing the roles of victims.Following the crash, the event was broken up into “stations,” Cissell said, with some students going to the hospital to see people injured in the crash and other students going to a funeral home to see those victims who didn't survive.Afterwards, the students took part in a lunch where some of them had to wear an eye patch or have their arm pinned against their body to experience what it's like to eat lunch from the perspective of a person with a crash-caused disability.A guest speaker then spoke to the students about his life following a crash that left him paralyzed below the waist.Cissell said this year's event will mirror the 2013 program.Const. Steve Bereza, who is helping coordinate the event for the Olds RCMP as a lead-up to Crime Prevention Week in Olds in May, said emergency responders will treat the crash as if it's a real event caused by impaired driving with a fatality.He added a police traffic analyst may participate along with a small remote-controlled helicopter to take video of the scene.FortisAlberta will also take part, Bereza said, and the scene may be turned into an electrical scenario where the vehicle involved in the crash hit a power pole and power lines are in contact with the car.The public is welcome to observe the event and speakers will be set up so people can hear the first responders describe each step they take in dealing with the crash.The motive behind the event is the reason local police and other emergency responders have agreed to take part, Bereza said.“(It's about) the impaired driving message and the realities and repercussions that affect everybody, whether it be emergency workers right down to family and basically the community.”Cissell said it was Louan Statchuk, a guidance counsellor at the high school who helped bring the program to Olds after she saw its successes in Vegreville.There is evidence, she added, the program can bring about “measurable outcomes” down the road.According to one Australian study posted on the program's website, “participation in the P.A.R.T.Y. youth injury awareness program was associated with a very significant reduction in subsequent risk of committing violence- or traffic-related offences, injuries, and death for juvenile justice offenders.” A survey the program conducted in Ontario found “that the P.A.R.T.Y. program is beneficial in improving participants' knowledge, attitudes, and anticipated behaviour in the short-term.”“There was a statistically significant change reported in the majority of post-P.A.R.T.Y. responses,” the program stated in a report on the results of the survey. “However, this data alone is unable to determine whether there are long-lasting effects associated with the P.A.R.T.Y. program.”The Olds event begins at 9 a.m. on May 1 at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 3802 57 [email protected]
