Alcohol dangers stressed after 2 N.W.T. teens found unconscious outdoors

Youth workers are urging parents to discuss the dangers of drug and alcohol use with their children, after two teenage girls were found passed out in the cold in the Yellowknife area in separate incidents.

In both cases, it was determined that the teenagers had been drinking before they passed out.

One underage girl was rushed to hospital Monday night after she was discovered, unconscious, in the alley in downtown Yellowknife.

"We went back and there was a girl kind of face down in the snowbank, blacked out," Erin Sawatski, a worker at the nearby Side Door Youth Centre, told CBC News on Tuesday.

Sawatski said she had just closed up the youth centre that night when she heard screams and laughter, followed by the sounds of a group of youth running away. She went over to see what happened, only to find the girl in the alley.

Sawatski said she wonders what might have happened to the teen, who was not wearing a hat or mitts, if she had not been discovered sooner.

"She could've laid there all night, maybe, like, until she woke up," she said.

'Little bit too much to drink'

In the other incident, a 14-year-old girl was taken to hospital on Saturday, after she was found asleep outside an apartment building in nearby N'dilo, N.W.T.

"She had a little bit too much to drink, and I guess maybe passed out," said Berna Martin, the girl's aunt.

Martin said her niece had tried to enter the apartment building Friday night but was locked out. The girl was found on a porch the next morning.

Teenagers drinking, then becoming unconscious outdoors, is a problem that seems all too common, Martin said.

"Maybe they go inside somebody's house and drink, and once they get outside the alcohol just hits them and they get blacked out," she said.

"This is not the only time that happened. It happened to one of my daughter's best friends, and she went to sleep on a bench on the street and she never woke up."

Talk to kids about safety, youth worker urges parents

Side Door program co-ordinator Spencer Heslep said youth who drink or take drugs in a group are used to taking care of one another, but added that they may leave a weaker member of the group behind.

"They don't care, so they just leave them alone," he said. "So in those cases, yeah, they're left alone outside to fend for themselves."

Even if parents do not agree with their children's lifestyles, Heslep said, they should at least talk to them about safety measures, such as ensuring they know who they can call for help or a ride home any time.

"If a parent knows that their child is out drinking or partying, and they can't stop that, then they at least need to tell them about safety," he said.

"I think a lot of kids are afraid to let people know what's going on because they think that they'll be condemned."

RCMP Const. Kathy Law agreed, adding that parents could also "advise their kids that there are numerous safe places throughout a city.

"They can call on people like Block Parents, the RCMP, the fire hall, even the radio stations — places like that to go to ask for help if they need it," Law said.

Heslep said parents should also try to know more about their children's lives, and be able to help offer them healthy alternatives to alcohol and drugs.