Year 12 P.A.R.T.Y. Program at the RBWH (Brisbane)

Recently, 35 Year 12 students at Southern Cross Catholic College Scarborough embarked on an experience at the Royal Brisbane Hospital.  It is an annual event for our College and contains valuable lessons around the Prevention of Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth P.A.R.T.Y.). For us, it was a massive eye opener. We became much more aware of the dangers certain decisions impose.

"We were exposed to several stories and services from within the hospital, including presentations from staff in the following sectors:

• Queensland Ambulance Service
• Emergency Trauma nursing
• Orthopaedic support staff
• Occupation therapists
• Dietetics sector
• Intensive Care Unit
• Organ donor program

"Eye opening, real life experiences were provided in the areas of:

• Walking safely with a blood alcohol content of 0.25 using vision goggles
• Trauma room procedures a simulation of a trauma case from an accident
• Feeding each other solidified water in the dietetics unit

"Former patients participated, sharing their stories. One person, an amputee shared his experiences around living without a limb, and the rehabilitation required to live independently once again. Charmaine, a car crash victim, now a hemiplegic (living with half a brain) told of her tremendous fight for survival. (She lived in ICU for 11 months and now requires carer support every hour of every day.

I'm not invincible and accidents can happen so easily. The take-home message was definitely to think twice before doing something which poses risks; do not give into peer pressure; and appreciate the beauty of life, while making conscientious decisions.

"I feel like as kids we get a little bit complacent with our lives but in reality, teenage accidents are happening all the time and we do not really think about it. A continuous message which was given throughout the day was the line "you only live once, so think twice." We realised the fragility of life and how every day must be appreciated, and our safety should be our number one priority".

"(A big thank you to Tim Clark and Deana Leo for joining us as support teachers)".

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