AWARE (All Wisconsin Alcohol Risk Education): Message from UW Health Leadership

UW Hospital and Clinics President and CEO Donna Katen-Bahensky, UW Medical Foundation President and CEO Jeffrey Grossman and UW School of Medicine and Public Health Dean Robert Golden support AWARE:

Robert Golden, Donna Katen-Bahensky and Jeffrey Grossman

• Wisconsin is one of only two states that do not issue a felony charge until a person's fifth Operating While Intoxicated citation.
• Over half the country had decreases in the number of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities from 2006-07, Wisconsin actually increased by 2 percent.
• Sixty-eight percent of drunk drivers involved in fatal and serious injury crashes had no prior OWI.
• Underage drinking costs the citizens of Wisconsin $1.2 billion in 2005.
• Nearly 40 percent of 12-20-year-olds reported drinking alcohol within the past month – the highest rate in the nation.

Such facts are the reason that UW Health is launching All-Wisconsin Alcohol Risk Education or AWARE. In 2006, Wisconsin had the highest rates of alcohol consumption, binge drinking and heavy drinking among all U.S. states and territories. We feel it is UW Health's responsibility as a leader for better Wisconsin health, to take the lead in initiating a coalition that will raise awareness and move important state legislation forward that will help minimize the devastating effects of alcohol abuse.

Consider the following:

• Wisconsin had the highest alcohol use in the country (49 percent) among high students in 2007.
• Wisconsin had the three times the national arrest rate for liquor violations from 1997 to 2006.
• Statewide costs in 2007 for alcohol-related accidents and medical conditions were $935 million.

The UW Hospital and Clinics, UW Medical Foundation and the UW School of Medicine and Public Health believe that they have a duty to the citizens of Wisconsin to alter such statistics by embracing the Wisconsin Idea even further through proactive support for change and education about alcohol risks.

UW Health will lead a state-wide coalition that will increase public awareness of the gravity of alcohol abuse in Wisconsin, support an aggressive public policy agenda promoting responsible alcohol behavior and solutions to alcohol abuse.

We hope you will help support this important effort as we move forward in developing what we believe will be an historic pathway to serving the citizens of Wisconsin in a much-needed area of concern.