Health experts at college campuses across the state are focusing on National Alcohol Awareness Month in April. Sarah Hansen is the coordinator for the Health Iowa program at the University of Iowa. She says what they’re trying to focus on is having students take a step back and sort of evaluate where they are and figure out where they are, where they want to be, especially focusing on lower-risk decisions. Hansen say this is a key time of year for students.She says it’s essentially spring break and finals, a time when a lot of decisions around alcohol get made. She says they hope students will take some time to make some decisions about alcohol. Hansen says drinking decisions have a major impact.She says alcohol is the number health issue students deal with nationally, and on the U-of-I campus. She says there hope is to help students get through their college career in the safest way possible, so they can get a degree and go on to be successful in the rest of their life. Hansen says a lot of effort has been put into alcohol awareness in the last several years.She says she thinks the message is getting out in some regard, but says they have their work cut out for them as alcohol is such a part of our culture. The university health service does provide information and anonymous alcohol screening on-line to help students who may have a problem.
