Preventing Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth

This week’s blog post is brought to you by Marie-Claude Lachance, Project Coordinator of Kingston: Partners for a Safe Community (KPSC).  KPSC is a not-for-profit, charitable organization that work with community partners to provide activities and programs aimed at reducing injuries and preventable deaths, along with promoting safety within our community.

On April 24^th, the first pilot session for the Kingston P.A.R.T.Y. program was held.  Thank you to all students and staff from Sydenham High School who participated!



P.A.R.T.Y. is the acronym for Prevent Alcohol and Risk-related Trauma in Youth. It is an injury prevention program targeted at high school students between the ages of 15 and 18 to educate them about the outcomes of making poor choices.  P.A.R.T.Y seeks to give the students a snapshot of the possible traumatic and often preventable consequence of alcohol misuse and other risk-related behaviour that can lead to injury.

Pictured LtoR:  Captain Rick Vasko, Kingston Fire & Rescue,
student volunteer, and Jeff Burgess, Supervisor, Frontenac
Paramedic Services

The program is a full day offered at Kingston General Hospital. In order to completely involve the students in the experience of injury and recovery, the group is “walked along” the common course of injury and treatment of someone involved in a car crash.  Through a variety of teaching techniques including lectures, videos, simulated trauma resuscitation, tours of the Intensive Care Unit and the Emergency Department, and interaction with injury survivors, students see first-hand what it would be like to be injured.  Students are encouraged to think: “What if this happened to me?” There is candid discussion about what choices they could make in a variety of situations that would prevent them, their family and friends from being injured.

Kingston P.A.R.T.Y. program is being coordinated by Kingston Partners for a Safe Community and its injury prevention partners such as Kingston General Hospital, the Kingston Police or the Ontario Provincial Police, KFL&A Public Health, Frontenac Paramedics, Kingston Fire and Rescue, the Ministry of Transportation Road Safety Office and so many more.  Kingston P.A.R.T.Y. is a component of the Trauma Services Program at KGH.  We also encourage partners in the community to support our program with donations to help us enhance the students’ experience.

Alcohol as a Sustainability Issue

One of the values of the Sustainable Kingston plan is to ensure well-being 

“...(to) create a sustainable community where all members of the community are able to meet their needs, advance their potential, and improve well being through healthy, safe, and fulfilling work and play”. [1]

While the sale of alcohol can provide a boost to the local economy, how does it inhibit the Sustainable Kingston goal of community well-being?  The excessive use of alcohol and related harm is a complex sustainability issue that can be monitored and managed by local communities.

The following illustrates how the issue of alcohol crosses all 4 sustainability pillars.  This summary is based on work from Australia – ICLEI Oceania’s Cities for Safe and Health Communities. [2]

Economically - Poor alcohol management and planning can lead to an oversaturation of alcohol outlets.  This can both limit opportunities for other businesses to open up and participate in the night-time economy, and deter businesses from opening

Socially - A high concentration of alcohol outlets in one neighbourhood of the City may be appealing to young adults, but creates no-go areas for others, resulting in a decrease in community interaction.

Culturally - Relying on alcohol outlets alone reduces vitality.  Support from city planners is essential to encourage a diverse business mix in the night-time environment.

Environmentally - There is a definite need to balance interests and control excess. Alcohol-related costs are out of balance with alcohol industry profits and provincial government revenue.

How can Kingston measure the impact of strategies to reduce alcohol-related harm?

By measuring the following indicators:
·       Alcohol-related assaults,
·       Alcohol-related ambulance attendances
·       Alcohol-related illness and injury
·       Diverse business mix: what is the ratio of alcohol-related businesses to other opportunities for community and cultural engagement?
·       Alcohol-related costs to council: e.g. enforcement, property damage, waste management, street cleaning

The annual Sustainable Kingston forum is Saturday, April 20^th from 9 am – 4 pm at the KROCK Centre.  Come and join us in the exhibitor’s area to explore this issue further.  Ask a question about alcohol as a sustainability issue for your chance to receive a free Tim Horton’s gift card!

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[1] Sustainable Kingston plan (2011)

[2] “Using data to drive action”. Cities for Safe and Health Communities, ICLEI Oceania, Melbourne, Australia, 2009.

Rethink that Jagerbomb

Today’s post is brought to you by the Peer Health Educators at Queen’s University (used with permission):

Learning more about this common cocktail may cause you to buck the trend. The next time the bartender asks for your drink order, consider...

We’ve all been told time and again that mixing alcohol with other substances is a dangerous game to play. However, many students continue to roll the dice and buy into the myths and misconceptions surrounding the combined use of alcohol and energy drinks, without knowing the real and serious consequences for the body and mind. A study of Canadian university students reported that 67% of students mix alcohol with energy drinks and 19% had done so in the previous week.

Want to have a great night to remember with your friends? Energy drinks contain immense amounts of caffeine, which masks the symptoms of intoxication but does not reduce impairment, causing you to drink more…and more. This binging, paired with a sugar overload can lead to a messy night…and morning, that’s no fun for anyone.

Studies also suggest that there is a higher dis-inhibiting effect from the combination of alcohol and caffeine, compared to alcohol alone. The collision between the sedatives in alcohol and the stimulants in energy drinks, leads to high impairment but also feelings of awareness and control. This combination can lead to risky behaviours such as drinking and driving, violence and unsafe sex. Again, not impressing your friends or yourself.

On top of sickness, hangovers, social embarrassment, and regrettable choices, combining alcohol and energy drinks also poses serious health risks. These include headaches, tremors, insomnia, heart irregularities, seizures, and cardiovascular failure.

Next time you’re heading out with your friends, think about nixing the Jagerbomb or Vodka Rockstar, and make it a good night for everyone.

Sources:

Want to learn more? Check out this recent article in the Huffington Post for a quick overview, or this document from Public Health, or a full report from Canada's prominent alcohol research team.

Of course I will.... the day I see that positive pregnancy test

There is no better motivator for change than a positive pregnancy test.  I have yet to meet a pregnant mother who does not want to have a healthy baby.   And with the hopes of having the healthiest baby possible most women make many positive changes.   They drink more milk, switch to whole grains, and even try Brussels sprouts in an effort to eat more vegetables.   Many quit smoking or cut back, try to avoid second hand smoke, and quit drinking alcohol.   But I wonder how many of them know how important their health before pregnancy is?

Alcohol is a known risk to the unborn child; it can cause birth defects by affecting the growth and proper formation of the body and brain of a fetus.  Despite this fact, Canadian studies indicate that a significant percentage of pregnancies (both planned and unplanned) involve alcohol exposure.  This exposure often occurs during the first trimester of pregnancy – before a woman even knows that she is pregnant.  In 2010, the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC) developed Alcohol and Pregnancy Consensus Clinical Guidelines .  In this report the SOGC indicate that the majority of Canadian women drink alcohol and they cite the 2004 Canadian Addiction Survey which indicates that 76.8% of Canadian women over 15 years of age reported drinking alcohol within the previous twelve-month period.  Considering that up to 50% of pregnancies are unplanned and 76.8% of Canadian women over the age of 15 years are drinking alcohol, this is cause for concern. 

 

So if you are a woman of child bearing age and planning to become pregnant, or you could become pregnant, think about making positive lifestyle choices now, including choices around how much you are drinking.   If you would like to learn more about your health before pregnancy, check out the links below.    

http://www.motherisk.org/women/index.jsp

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/hp-gs/think-pense-eng.php                               http://www.healthbeforepregnancy.ca/