United Way of Mat-Su Volunteer Spotlight, Volunteers make snowmachine safety seminar a success

Sammye Pokryfki-For the Frontiersman

On Dec. 1, the first Snowmachine Safety Seminar was held in the Cottonwood Creek Mall, sponsored by the Valley Healthy Communities Program, Valley Hospital Safe Kids program and Wasilla Arctic Cat.

The seminar brought together numerous volunteers from diverse backgrounds, with one thing in common -- a desire to increase the public's awareness of snowmachine safety in order to minimize risk of accident and injury. The following organizations contributed volunteer support during the seminar: Willow Ambulance Service, Alaska State Troopers, Valley Healthy Communities, Backcountry Avalanche Awareness Response Team (BAART), Mat-Su Recovery Center, Valley Hospital and the Mat-Su Borough Dive and Rescue Team.

Individual volunteers included Butch Bologna, Rick Johnson, Travis Johnson, Sandy Lane, Sammye Pokryfki, Vince Pokryfki, Beth Theurich and Arlene Bowman.

Snowmachine accidents are a leading cause of injury in the Mat-Su Borough, and many of the causes of the accidents were addressed in the seminar, such as cold-weather preparedness, sharing the trails with dog mushers, judging the thickness of ice before crossing frozen lakes and streams, proper helmet fitting, basic first aid and rescue, avalanche awareness and the importance of abstaining from alcohol while operating a motorized vehicle.

The event was scheduled to open at 10 a.m. but by 8:30 a.m. a line had begun to form, which ultimately extended from the mall's center court to the entrance doors. Hundreds of people visited the safety stations at the seminar.

The first 115 people received a punch card and, after listening to the information at each station, the presenter stamped the card. Attendees could turn in their completed cards, along with $25, to purchase a new helmet, which normally retails for $150. They were provided by Wasilla Arctic Cat with a grant from the Valley Healthy Communities.

According to event organizers Sammye Pokryfki and Elizabeth Ripley, the idea for this event began when Pokryfki's son sustained a head injury last winter in a snowmachine accident due to a helmet that was fastened improperly.

Nate Pokryfki has since fully recovered from the injury, but the experience motivated his family to join a rapidly growing grassroots movement to decrease the number of snowmachine accidents in the Valley.

Pokryfki engaged the support of Valley Healthy Communities, a nonprofit group that works with Valley Hospital to fund prevention and early intervention health-related projects.

Valley Healthy Communities elected to finance the reduced-price helmet sale and provide administrative support for the program. Valley Hospital joined with the Safe Kids program support and volunteers, and every organization responded enthusiastically to the idea, and donated time and talent.

In conjunction with the seminar, Nate Pokryfki and Johnson, both 17, presented information to 10 groups of students in nine schools during a five-day period, relating the circumstances of Pokryfki's injury and talking to youth about preventative strategies and basic safety, while promoting the seminar. In an on-site survey taken at the seminar, 75 percent of those attending said they learned about the seminar through the school presentations.

The seminar is an example of the power of volunteers.

Thanks to the many volunteers who participated in the seminar, and the volunteer organizations that contributed to the project, there is an increased awareness of snowmachine safety in our community -- an awareness that will save lives.

This article was submitted by Sammye Pokryfki, president of the Valley Healthy Communities program. If you would like to submit the names and accomplishments of a volunteer, please e-mail them to valleylife@frontiersman.com or fax them to 352-2276.

We spotlight a volunteer every Tuesday in the Frontiersman.