It’s All About Choice

You have just written your last exam. You and seven of your friends decide to go out and celebrate. Everyone piles into your car. Since you are only going a short distance - what does it matter if you don't wear your seatbelt? The next morning the headlines read "TWO DEAD, TWO CRITICALLY INJURED, DRIVER CHARGED." This crash will not only affect your life, but those who were injured, or killed, and the lives of all their families and friends. You will also have to live with the fact that you killed two of your friends and permanently injured two others. This was not an accident!

The above is a scenario used by the Prevent Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth (PARTY) Program to help educate youth the consequences of drinking and driving.

In 1994, Ken Sommerfeld was forced to deal with an unspeakable tragedy. “My 18-year old son, Tyler was killed in an alcohol-related car crash,” he said. “ I quit drinking after my son died. I had to. It wasn’t the issue of drinking, but I was scared I would hurt someone.”

Sommerfeld has turned his pain and loss into a public service telling his own story to Creston area teens through the PARTY Program.

“It’s standardized and organized intense, full-day experience,” Sommerfeld explained. “They spend the day at the hospital and observe, from beginning to end, what happens when a car crash victim comes in. Working with a dummy, EMS, RCMP, Emergency and finally a coroner graphically describe and act out a scenario. It scares the hell out of some kids and overwhelms others.”
The PARTY Program has also coordinated with the RCMP to demonstrate the Jaws of Life. Because they have likely been through the program a few times, the information is often specific to grads.

Sommerfeld’s role in the PARTY Program is candidly sharing his own experiences in dealing with his son’s death. “The pain doesn’t go away,” he said. “My presentation includes a number of questions and in the face realities about drinking and driving. Nobody has right to jeopardize someone’s life and when you are in a situation where there is alcohol, you are making a choice to get behind the wheel or jump in the back seat.”

As far as the Party Program making a difference, we point to the statistics. In 1995, eight teens were killed in car crashes and 80 percent were alcohol related. Since the Program started, this statistic decreased seeing three teens killed in three years.

“We are here and want to save them all, but one is a success,” Sommerfeld pointed out. “It is difficult to get the statistics one hundred percent accurate, but we have made a difference.”
The Creston area PARTY Program is on a brief hiatus as the committee makes changes for next year.

“We need to call these things what they are: CRASHES, COLLISIONS, INCIDENTS, MISHAPS, OCCURENCES. They are not Accidents – accidents are preventable.”
- National PARTY Program

For more information click on:
www.partyprogram.com

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