4A NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 29. 2009
HOSPITAL VISITS
2008 Lawrence Memorial Hospital alcohol-related cases Total cases: 1,526
Year 2003 2008
Primary cases 271 365
Secondary cases 637 1,161
Total cases 908 1,526
Cases involving college students 159 273
From 2003 to 2008, there was a 59 percent total increase in alcohol cases at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
In 2003 to 2008, there was a 59 percent total increase in alcohol cases at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.
- In 2008, hospital costs were $7.7 million for 1,526 cases with alcohol listed as the primary or secondary cause.
- For being treated for alcohol poisoning, one night in the hospital could cost more than $8,000.
- These numbers exclude any cases where patients are flown to other hospitals — an average of 54 flights per year.
Source: John Drees, community education specialist at Lawrence Memorial Hospital
ALCOHOL POISONING
What can alcohol poisoning do to your body?
Alcohol depresses nerves that control involuntary actions such as breathing and the gag reflex, which prevents choking. A fatal dose of alcohol will eventually stop these functions
It is common for someone who drinks excessively to vomit, because alcohol is a stomach irritant. Another danger is choking on vomit, which could cause death by asphyxiation in a person who is unconscious because of intoxication.
A person's blood alcohol concentration can continue to rise even while he or she is passed out. After a person stops drinking, alcohol in the stomach and intestine continues to enter the bloodstream and circulate throughout the body. It is dangerous to assume a person will be fine by sleeping it off.
Critical signs of alcohol poisoning
Mental confusion, stupor,
coma, or person cannot be
roused
Check Kansan.com to see how alcohol affects the body.
vomiting Seizures
- Slow breathing (fewer than eight breaths per minute)
Irregular breathing (10 seconds or more between breaths)
- Hypothermia (low body temperature), bluish skin color, paleness
what should I do if I suspect someone has alcohol poisoning?
- Know the danger signals.
- Do not wait for all symptoms to be present.
- If there is any suspicion of an alcohol overdose, call 911 for help. Don't try to guess
- Be aware that a person who has passed out may die.
What can happen to someone with alcohol poisoning that goes untreated?
- Victim chokes on his or her own vomit.
- Breathing slows, becomes irregular, or stops.
- Heart beats irregularly or stops.
- Hypothermia (low body temperature).
- Hypoglycemia (too little blood sugar) leads to seizures.
Severe dehydration from
- Even if the victim lives, an alcohol overdose can lead to irreversible brain damage.
- vomiting can cause seizures, permanent brain damage, or death
- Rapid binge drinking (which often happens on a bet or a dare) is especially dangerous because the victim can ingest a fatal dose before becoming unconscious.
Don't be afraid to seek medical help for a friend who has had too much to drink. Don't worry that your friend may become angry or embarrassed. Remember, you cared enough to help. Always be safe, not sorry.
Source: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
These are the alcohol-related citations and arrests from 2008 as reported by the Lawrence Police and KU Public Safety.
POLICE REPORTS
Sources: KU Public Safety Office, NIRS Classification Summary, and AII Statutes
11 percent.
A SHOT OF REALITY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
In the same survey, 47 percent of KU students admitted to drinking and driving within the past 30 days, doubling the national average for the same question of 23 percent.
When asked about driving after consuming five or more drinks, 18 percent of KU respondents said they had, compared with the national average of 4 percent.
Several aspects of college life help create a culture in which students binge drink, often more so than people their age who are not in college. Researchers say these contributors include communal living arrangements such as residence halls and Greek housing, the co-mingling of underage and of age students, increased amounts of unstructured time, and a high number of alcohol ads targeted at college students.
LIFE ON CAMPUS
The smell of day-old Ramen, burnt popcorn and cheap beer permeates the hallways of McColum Hall. As the University's largest dorm, McCollum houses about 900 students. With so many shared aspects of living, it's impossible for students to avoid interacting with other residents. Card games, movie nights and video games all add to the atmosphere of residence hall life.
A robust social scene is one of the main attractions of life in University residence halls and Greek houses. However, a 2000 study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, or NIAAA, showed that living in residence halls or Greek housing was also one of the main factors that leads to student drinking.
"One of the reasons that we encourage people to live on campus is for socialization," said Diana Robertson, director of the Department of Student Housing. "But hopefully for good, not evil."
About 5,000 KU students live in some form of University housing, either in residence halls, oncampus apartments or scholarship halls. About 2,400 students live in greek houses. Together, these students make up approximately 36 percent of the undergraduate population.
Lindsey Coggins, Waterville freshman, said it was hard to pass up drinking when living in McCollum Hall. She said many McCollum residents drink regularly in the dorm.
some every night. Coggins said that despite the rules, it's no problem sneaking alcohol into rooms.
Coggins said she and her friends once snuck about $90 worth of alcohol into McCollum in a beer box by disguising it as a gift, complete with wrapping paper and a bow.
"This was within the first couple weeks of school starting, and we were pretty nervous about bringing in alcohol." Coggins said. "So we tried to do the most innocent thing we could think of."
"A backpack, a purse, anything you can find, you can sneak into your room," she said.
ALCOHOL ADS IN THE KANSAN
This self-study used column inches as a measurement to determine how many Kansan advertisements were alcohol-related. Kansan and Jayplay ads were studied for September 2008 and March 2009. All bar ads and any ads that mentioned or showed alcohol were counted in the study and are represented here in re
"It's obviously a problem when you've got kids dying."
JAKE GIBBS Santa Fe, N.M., senior
Jon Schlitt, sales and marketing adviser for The Kansan, said the majority of alcohol-related ads ran on Thursdays, because Thursday is a popular night for students to go out.
Jay Wren, Jason's father, has called on Sigma Alpha Epsilon and other fraternities to go dry, or to accept only members who are 21 and older because of what he called the apparent lack of supervision within the SAE house.
Phi Delta Theta is the University's only dry fraternity, meaning alcohol is prohibited. All KU sororities are considered dry.
Although Schlitt said alcohol ads were important to The Kansan, he said apartment ads were "the bread and butter" of The Kansan's advertising revenue.
SAE has made no announcement to date about going dry.
Jake Gibbs, Santa Fe, N.M.,
In a 2001 Harvard School of Public Health college alcohol study, research showed that fraternity members were more likely to participate in heavy drinking than their non-fraternity peers, 75 percent versus 49 percent. The study showed that 62 percent of sorority members engaged in heavy drinking, compared with 41 percent of non-greek female students.
All KU fraternities and sororities are privately owned, allowing them to make their own rules regarding alcohol.
senior and member of Sigma Chi, said much of the greek social life is centered on drinking, which can sometimes get out of hand if people aren't responsible. He said, however
that Wren's death should be a wake-up call to all students, not just to members of the greek community.
Living in the Sigma Chi house for two years often led Gibbs to drink more than he might have otherwise. He said he drinks less now that he lives off-campus.
"It's obviously a problem when you've got kids dying." Gibbs said.
Whitney Bloom, Buhler sophomore and member of Chi Omega, said she thought the sorority's alcohol policy didn't stop many people from drinking in the house. Many sororites hand out steep
She said drinking is an expectation within the greek community. Alcohol is often supplied at social events put on by fraternities, she said.
fines to those caught with alcohol in the houses.
"If you don't drink cheap beer or take shots of cheap vodka, you probably won't drink," Bloom said.
According to the 2006 NCHA study, 13 percent of KU students say they don't drink regularly or at all.
Erryn Kindle,
Eudora sophomore,
is one of them.
He doesn't drink because of what he calls a "bribe."
Despite his pledge, Kindle often goes to parties or local clubs. He said new acquaintances are sometimes surprised to find out he doesn't drink.
After living in Russia for severa years, Jenny Geide said she decided that alcohol wasn't for her. She said she witnessed a lot of excessive drinking, which turned her off from wanting to drink.
When he was 10 years old, his parents promised him $1,000 if he refrained from drinking until turning 21.
"I always feel weird when I tell them," Kindle said.
"Being exposed to that culture, I saw that I didn't want to live like that," Geide said.
She said the choice to abstain from alcohol was made easier because she had supportive friends with similar values.
"I don't really believe that I should be drinking," Geide said, "especially to get drunk."
Geide said her Christian faith and guidance from her parents also motivated her to not drink.
"My friends and I have tons of fun all the time and drinking is never involved," Geide said.
"There's lots to do without going to parties. You just need to find the right friends."
ADVERTISING
Whether it be Bud Light's 'Men of Genius' commercials, Jayplay's back cover with weekly drink specials, or brightly colored ads for local bars chalked across campus sidewalks, students are inundated with alcohol advertising.
The NIAAA study identified a high number of advertisements targeted at college students as another factor linked to heavy drinking.
David Jernigan, executive director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, said the alcohol industry glamorized and misrepresented the use of alcohol in advertisements.
"The majority of college students are not getting drunk every weekend," Jernigan said. "But you wouldn't know that from seeing alcohol advertisements."
Jenny McKee, health educator at Watkins' Wellness Resource Center, said she gave presentations to classes about the misperceptions of alcohol use by KU students. McKee often asks classes to guess what percentage of their peers drink.
"It never fails, they always say 99 or 100 percent," McKee said. "But we know that's just not true."
Jernigan, also an associate professor of health, behavior and society at Johns Hopkins University, said underage people are more exposed to alcohol advertising than people of legal age.
---
"The real question is:
Why aren't we having more deaths?"
JOHN DREES Community education specialist at Lawrence Memorial Hospital
"Study after study has found
that the more alcohol advertisements people are exposed to, the more likely they are to drink, and to drink heavily" lennihan said.
Jon Schlitt, sales and marketing adviser for The University Daily Kansan, said the
"Alcohol is a legal product, pending that you are over the age of 21, so therefore we do welcome advertising from our local bars," Schlitl said.
majority of alcohol-related ads ran on Thursdays, because Thursday is a popular night for students to go out.
The options for students of where, what and how much to drink can sometimes be overwhelming. As in Wren's case, this range of choices can sometimes lead to dangerous behavior.
Although Schlitt said alcohol ads were important to The Kansan, he said apartment ads were "the bread and butter" of The Kansan's advertising revenue.
Schlitt said the advertising staff doesn't run ads that promote underage or binge drinking.
In 2008, Lawrence Memo
"We want our bars to run creative ads, and we want them to get people in the door," Schlitt said. "But at the same time, we want to make sure that they're following the law."
DRINKING SCENE
Tyler Waugh/KANSAN
Lawrence residents and students play a round of beer pong, a popular drinking game, outside a house party April 25. House parties are an alternative to the bar scene and another way to enjoy Lawrence nightlife, especially for individuals not of legal drinking age.
Shotbooks, like this one belonging to Shea Scanlon, Lenexa junior, have become pages documents a different shot of alcohol, the time and location it was consumed, and
a popula
the recipie