| May
9, 2000 MPI sponsors hard-hitting hospital-based education program Every week Sheila Loewen stands up and tells another group of students why she's cross-eyed and has a tendency to fall down. She hopes it will help another smart kid avoid a stupid decision. In Manitoba, young drivers are more than twice as likely to be involved in a collision than are older, more experienced drivers. And high risk behaviours such as speeding, drinking and driving, driving while tired and not wearing seatbelts are often factors in these crashes. That is why MPI is a sponsor of the PARTY program (Prevent Alcohol and Risk-Related Trauma in Youth), an innovative, hospital-based program that is helping to educate young people about the dangers and consequences of risk-taking. "Manitoba Public Insurance (MPI) has a very simple mission," said John Douglas, MPI's Vice President of Public Affairs. "That is to protect Manitobans from the human and economic cost of automobile accidents. One of the ways we strive to do that is by being an active participant in preventing accidents and injuries in the first place." PARTY, which is administered by the Manitoba Head Injury Association, promotes injury prevention through reality education. It takes place weekly, alternating between the Health Sciences Centre and the Misericordia Health Centre. Over 1500 students and teachers experienced the PARTY program during the 1998/1999 school year, and the 1999/2000 year sessions were all booked within the first month. There's already a waiting list for next year's sessions. Participants get a chance to "try-on" various disabilities. They also hear first hand from experts in the field of emergency treatment and from people like Loewen who suffered a severe brain injury over 25 years ago after drinking too many beers and crashing her car. "As a grassroots, volunteer driven group, we rely on support from individuals and the business community to keep our programs running," said Manitoba Head Injury Association president Glen Bergeron. "MPI's financial support has given us the resources we need to fund the program well into next year."
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