The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

2002 United Way of Oakville Campaign OUR GOAL $3.3 m illion 1 y United Way For more into: 845-5571 Editor: Wilma Blokhuis Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 250) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-mail: blokhuis@haltonsearch.com W E D N E S D A Y . D E C E M B E R II . 2 ( X Y 2 · Cl FOCUS FOURTH LINE AUTO O dk^C H e/ l.O O D p Y E A R For All Your Car's Needs Drive Clean Emission Testing Government Safety Inspection Tune-Ups · Brakes · Exhaust · Cooling Systems CAA Approved Shop Waterfront fe itU /a l Official Media Sponsor 559 Speers Road (905) 842-3001 Students get hard lesson on bad choices Unknown to them, they would soon get up close and personal to the accident victim. During their tour of the emergency depart ment, that victim was wheeled in, hollering and screaming in pain. His head was bandaged and his clothes in disarray. A bone appeared to be protruding out of his leg. By Paula Henriques The students were shocked. OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF One uttered. "This can't be good to watch." Many turned their backs to the whole scene; not Putting on a pair of pajama pants shouldn't wanting to look. But most were in stunned take more than a few seconds, but 24 St. silence, their mouths hanging open. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School The doctors, nurses and hospital personnel students soon discovered that trying to put on a worked on the victim as they would an actual pair while feigning paralysis was no easy feat. emergency case. First they cut his clothes off to As part of Halton Healthcare Services' see the body adequately and then checked his Community and Hospital Against Trauma breathing to see if both lungs were working as (CHAT) program, the students visited Oakvillethey should. Trafalgar Memorial Hospital (OTMH) last week He was then wheeled into the X-ray room. to see and experience the consequences of bad Still no-one suspected that it was a simulation. choices. The victim was brought back immediately, According to hospital staff involved with this time sitting up, a smile on his face, his CHAT, those bad choices could lead to a brain injuries non-existent. The group recognized him or spinal cord injury. For students to understand instantly; it was a classmate. those implications, they had to assume one side "One reason we did this is that we see too of their body was paralysed, as well as having a many young people being vision impairment. wheeled in here. It's even a While wearing glasses with "One reason we did this is shock to all o f us," said Tom tape-covered lenses, and Stanton, an OTMH em er that we see too many young unable to use one side of their gency doctor. body, the students tried to do people being wheeled in "The worst thing to see is a mundane act like putting on here. It's even a shock to when kids get hurt and it a pair of pajama pants. could have been prevented. all of us. The worst thing to Many couldn't complete There are bad decisions being the normally simple task and see is when kids get hurt made all the time." others struggled for several and it could have been He revealed that the simu minutes. Some just gave up. prevented. There are bad lation was a quicker version Lorraine Rohm, Health o f what actually happens in decisions being made all Promotion Manager, said it the emergency room. was the perfect exercise for the time." "It's not like ER (TV young people to understand · Tom Stanton, OTMH show) where it takes two or the effects of taking irrespon emergency doctor three minutes to save a life sible risks. and move on. W hat you saw The second activity had here was minute; it can take up to an hour." them trying to steer a wheelchair while under He explained the simulation showed the the influence of the same impairments. same type of injuries someone in a real motor With complaints and grunts like, "It's hard. I vehicle accident would have head, chest, and can't do it." or, "I'm getting tired," many just leg injuries. went in circles or bumped into walls, probably "He had a chest injury because he hit the not even aware that those objections and chal steering wheel, and a leg injury because he hit lenges are felt by adults and youngsters alike the dashboard. The most dangerous injury is the everyday in "real" situations. chest; you can die in two seconds. If the big "Initially, they are all confused. They're not blood vessels are broken, it doesn't take very sure how to use their hands. They forget they long to lose all your blood volume in the chest. can use their good leg. It's an eye opener," said "Air bags and seatbelts save your neck and Rohm. chest. Airbags sound like a bullet (when they In the Rehabilitation Services Department, deploy), most people say they hurt, but for the the students put on adult diapers to get an inkling of how helpless and vulnerable an injury most part, air bags save countless lives and everyone recovers." survivor feels. Program organizers hope that the day's One student was strapped on a tilt bed and shocks and eye-opening information will steer pretended she recently awoke from a coma. students away from making irresponsible deci Almost immediately, departm ent staff began sions in the future. throwing light objects at her while asking the Hospital Chaplain Catharine Thompson told flustered student questions like, "W hat is your the students that taking risks can make an name?" and, "W here do you live?" extreme difference on the rest of their lives. This chaotic and confusing experiment obvi "As you go on in your lives, you have to ously does not happen in physiotherapy with each consider where you draw that line. Not real patients, but it helped give the students a just yours, but who else you may affect as a glimpse into the emotions of an injury survivor. "You can't simulate brain damage, only sim result of your choices," she said. The students also heard from a representative ulate how it must feel," occupational therapist from the Trillium Gift of Life organ donation Lorraine Hirsch told the group. "She felt frus network, injury survivors, and emergency serv trated, scared, overwhelmed. Something as sim ices personnel. ple as asking your name makes you doubt your Seventeen-year-old student Victoria Jelicic self. We had to put you in the mindset of some said CHAT made an impression on her. one going through it." "I really enjoyed being a part of it, and will In the Diagnostic Imaging Department, stu think twice before making certain decision." dents viewed gruesome X-rays o f people who Her classmate Kapana Feldano, 18, agreed, crossed the stupid line - nails in knees, golf saying she appreciated the message. clubs in skulls, damaged pelvises, and dislocat "I have definitely learned from this experi ed elbows. ence." A mock crash scene was setup near the hos For more coverage on the CHAT program pital so the students would witness the accident see page C3. on their way to the hospital. High school students step into injury survivors' shoes as part o f CHAT program Barrie Erskine · Oakville Beaver Victoria Jelicic, a St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Secondary School student, gets a first-hand look at how flustered and emotionally distraught an injury survivor can feel when undergoing ther apy. Occupational therapist Lorraine Hirsch throws light objects at her and asks questions repeatedly and quickly to stimulate those emotions. · T o o l s Sets · W o o d C h i p s · R o t i s s e r i e s · S m o k e r s · BBQ C o v e r s · C h a r c o a l * Som e conditions apply. Ask for com plete details. B ar -B-Q G as G rill & F ireplace 490 Speers Rd. Oakville · 905-844-3224 · w w w .b b q g a s g rill.c o m