HEALTH/IWK GRACE--Students Participate in a P.A.R.T.Y

Students at Admiral Westphal junior high school in Dartmouth are invited to a different kind of P.A.R.T.Y. on Friday, Feb. 26.

The P.A.R.T.Y. - Preventing Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth - Program is a dynamic injury and health promotion program that targets youth, primarily in grades 7-9. Students will experience a mock car crash, interact with emergency and health professionals and hear from an injury survivor.

This event is co-ordinated by the Nova Scotia Child Safety and Injury Prevention Program at the IWK Grace Health Centre. Members of emergency health services, Halifax regional police and fire departments, paramedics, rehabilitation therapists and injury survivors are among those volunteering their time for this day-long conference.

"More adolescents die as a result of injury than all other diseases combined," said Beth Bruce, director of the Nova Scotia Child Safety and Injury Prevention Program. "Students will see firsthand what happens as a result of alcohol and risk-related traumas -everything from the arrival of police to the intense rehabilitation a survivor of a serious injury must endure."

Founded at the Sunnybrook Health Centre in Toronto in 1986, the P.A.R.T.Y. Program enhances students' ability to recognize and make informed, safe choices about potentially dangerous situations. The students will learn what makes a behaviour risky, the effects of alcohol on decision-making and the possible consequences of risky behaviour.

"The P.A.R.T.Y. Program is an important message presented in an insightful and thought-provoking way,"says Audrey Matheson, principal of Admiral Westphal junior high. "I'm sure it will have a powerful effect on our students."

With health promotion and injury prevention as a strategic focus of the IWK Grace Health Centre, the Nova Scotia Child Safety and Injury Prevention Program was created to respond to the need for a comprehensive approach to child and youth injuries. This unique partnership between Nova Scotia Power Inc. and the IWK Grace identified this health issue and initiated strategies to specifically target at-risk children and youth.

Editor's Note: Media are invited to attend the P.A.R.T.Y. on Friday at Admiral Westphal junior high, 6 Fourth St., in Dartmouth. For more information, please contact Donna Redmond, IWK Grace public relations, at 902-420-6740.