By Keith Vass
The News Bulliten
Nanaimo News Bulletin
Copyright © 2007
NANAIMO, British Columbia — Sometimes the only way to make the risks of drugs and alcohol real to teens is to show them what can happen when things go wrong.
Nanaimo paramedic Alex Mattes has just been recognized by the B.C. Ambulance Service for his efforts to do just that.
Mattes has volunteered with the Vancouver Island Health Authority’s PARTY program, which stands for Preventing Alcohol and Risk Related Trauma in Youth, for the past six years.
Mattes, along with other emergency workers, shows high school students firsthand what can happen to victims of drug overdoses and drunk driving accidents.
“We’re basically showing them how they could end up,” he said.
“We have mannequins that are intubated. Outside we normally strap one of the students down to a spineboard with a hard collar on for 15, 20 minutes when we’re giving the talk.”
He says the presentation makes the dangers more real to teens because it’s coming from people who deal with teen trauma patients all too often.
“This is not just stuff that we’re saying don’t do because this could happen to you. This is stuff we see every week that has happened to kids your age.”
Students responses vary. Some kids leave because it’s too intense, some tune out, but some “have had experiences where this really hits close to home and they get quite upset,” Mattes said.
“My goal out of it is to make sure the kids are going to get home safe from a party. When they go to a party, hopefully they’ll think about it and call for a ride home.”
Mattes lives in Nanaimo with his family and does his education work around the Central Island area, though he works in Richmond.
This was the first time the ambulance service has handed out awards and Mattes was pleased to be one of the first recipients.
“It’s nice that they’re actually recognizing when people go out of their way to do this stuff,” he said.