2008 Woodie Awards
Students don't let students
Ariane Rasmussen
Issue date: 3/23/06 Section: News
- Page 1 of 3 next >
|
Two words, heard often, that might not evoke its true dangers to many students who are unaware of all its symptoms.
"I don't think that most students are well aware of the dangers of overdrinking and the risks of alcohol poisoning, even though we try to educate them about it. The reality of many of the students suffering from alcohol poisoning is that it may not hit them fully until after they've fallen asleep at night so you can't just tell necessarily by looking at someone that they are having alcohol poisoning," said Alcohol and Other Drug Services Coordinator, Janice Kessler.
"Because so many students engage in high-risk drinking, a lot of students tend to misinterpret the risks and feel that it's normal and that normal is not dangerous," said Alcohol and Other Drug Services Coordinator Janice Kessler.During St. Patrick's weekend, Kessler said "there were three transports" - which means three students taken to the hospital for being at risk for alcohol poisoning - that "may be partially attributed to St. Patrick's Day celebrations."
St. Vincent's Hospital Emergency Department Nurse Manager, Dawn Martin said, "it's not unusual to have 3-4 students a night, who are not necessarily just from Sacred Heart, brought into the hospital, especially in September on Thursdays and Fridays. Most of the students we see stay here for a few hours until their alcohol level lowers and they are more awake."
"We are saving lives every time we transport someone to the hospital," said Kessler who emphasized that transports are a good thing because they show that "students are looking out for one another and willing to call Public Safety."
She added, "I'm far more worried when we don't have alcohol transports because I know that the students are drinking - particularly our freshman and I know that many of them are inexperienced. This fall when we didn't have many transports, I was more alarmed by that than if we had them because it means that someone is at risk in the dorm."
Kessler explained that any student who drinks too much in a short period of time is at risk for alcohol poisoning and that, at SHU, what typically happens is that students drink too much in a short period of time or drink on an empty stomach.