Cobb Alcohol Task Force - Mobilizing for Change                                          

APRIL 2014

Greetings to our Volunteers, Partners, and Friends! 

 

April is National Alcohol Awareness Month. Throughout the month, the Taskforce and our Coalition partners will be engaged in activities throughout the county to promote legal and safe enjoyment of alcohol.

  

In April, we are focusing on Healthcare Partners!

 

Our monthly General Meeting is set for Tuesday, April 8, 2014 from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM at Ridgeview Institute, 3935 South Cobb Drive SE, Smyrna. Guests and speakers will include Cathy Wendholt-McDade, District Healthy Behaviors Director for Cobb & Douglas Public Health, a Taskforce Coaltion sector partner. 

  

There's more! CAT has also been invited by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Georgia to make a presentation during a public meeting. CAT representatives will discuss the benefits of legislation to address Social Hosting, which involves an adult providing alcohol to youth or facilitating environments where underage drinking occurs.  

 

And more! One effective way to address underage drinking is to train youth to serve as positive peer leaders and listeners. So we are proud to partner with Cobb County School District (CCSD) to observe Sources of Strength Week at selected Cobb County schools during the week of April 14 - 18. 

 

And more! Alcohol awareness will be the backdrop when the CAT Youth Council holds it End of School Year Celebration on Saturday, April 26. Among the activities, the Youth Council's Poster Contest winners will be announced and recognized.        


And still more! CAT representatives will be on hand at the Village Green during the Spring Jonquil Festival in Smyrna on April 26 and 27. Please visit us during the festival!!! 

 

And more again! CAT is also planning to be involved in a number of other public event during the month-- including the Cobb County Government Safety Education Block Party on Saturday, April 26 at 360 Six Flags Drive in Austell!

 

More information about dates, locations, and activity highlights will be shared via eNotices later this week and throughout the month.  

 

Also please visit the Cobb Alcohol Taskforce web site, www.cobbat.org, to find out more about program and activity updates. Thank you all for your support!

 

Peter I. Armstrong,

Executive Director

 

 

 
CALENDAR SNAPSHOT

 

APRIL

1-30 - NATIONAL ALCOHOL AWARENESS MONTH 

8 - CAT General Meeting

8 - Policy Strategy Team Meeting

9 - Development Committee Meeting

9 - Finance Committee Meeting

14-18 - SOURCES OF STRENGTH WEEK  

15 - Joint Meeting: Education Strategy Team

15 - Joint Meeting: Youth Strategy Team 

16 - Governance Committee Meeting 

26 - CAT Youth Council End-of-Year Celebration

26 - COBB PUBLIC SAFETY BLOCK PARTY

26-27 - CAT Exhibit at Jonquil Festival, Smyrna 

 

MAY 

13 - CAT General Meeting

13 - Policy Strategy Team Meeting

14 - Development Committee Meeting

15 - Executive Committee Meeting

18-24 - NATIONAL PREVENTION WEEK

20 - Joint Meeting: Education Strategy Team

15 - Joint Meeting: Youth Strategy Team

21 - Governance Committee Meeting

22 - CAT Board Meeting

 

 

Please check the calendar page frequently at www.cobbat.org for updates about events, meeting times, and locations. 


APRIL HIGHLIGHT: 

HEALTHCARE PARTNERS   


Healthcare practitioners can help to reduce the injuries and the negative health outcomes that alcohol causes to children and adolescents. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alcohol contributes to the top three causes of preventable death for American youth (murder, suicide and car crashes) as well as to preventable injuries from burns, drowning, assaults, STDs, and addiction.
 
Here are some ways our healthcare partners can help! Be alert to signs of alcohol use during routine and emergency medical examinations. Make screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT) a standard operating practice/procedure. Use knowledge and expertise about the dangers of alcohol to support community education and prevention programs. 
 
Most importantly, talk to parents and youth in your practice about the need to prevent underage and youth binge drinking. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) has many print and online resources that discuss alcohol's damaging effects on the brain.  
 
Finally, support the U.S. Surgeon General's General's Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking.    
 
For more information about how Healthcare partners can continue to be proactive, see this link at the CAT web site.  

 

THANKS TO ALL OUR OUTSTANDING HEALTHCARE PARTNERS.  Follow the "shout outs" to Healthcare partners on Facebook and Twitter throughout March.

 

Taskforce Happenings 


The Current Nameplate Image Features . . .   Healthcare Partners! Images of healthcare practitioners can be seen in many CAT outreach publications including our web site and our brochures.

 

Meeting Reminders:  - Cobb Alcohol Taskforce (CAT) General Meetings are held on the Second Tuesday of each month from January-May and August-December. They begin at 11:30 AM. CAT Board Meetings are held on the Fourth Thursday in January, March, May, July, September, and November, and begin at 7:30 AM.  

Prom Season is in High Gear! - Prom Season for Cobb County high schools began in March and is continuing. Please review these Prom Safety Tips that everyone should keep in mind as we see our youth celebrating. We also encourage everyone to visit the CAT website to read about Social Hosting and the important role parents play not only during prom season, but also for Spring Break and Graduation activities.      

Volunteers Needed for Team Meetings - Please see dates/times on calendar and plan to attend one of these meetings. These team meetings are where the action is; all are welcome!    

 

In The News

ToolKit for Alcohol Awareness Month is Available   
Health promotion and health advocacy organizations around the country will be observing National Alcohol Awareness Month in April, and helping to get the word out about legal and safe alcohol practices. The National Health Information Center, a division of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is offering a Toolkit for organizations to engage communities in promoting alcohol safety. 
 
You can read and download the 2014 Toolkit at this link: http://healthfinder.gov/nho/PDFs/AprilNHOtoolkit.pdf   
 
The National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence (NCADD) is also an excellent resource for alcohol safety and advocacy. The NCADD web site can be reached at http://www.ncadd.org/. 
  
About Us
Cobb Alcohol Taskforce is an alliance of individuals and organizations which mobilizes and challenges Cobb County adults to reduce underage drinking and youth binge drinking, by advancing strategic enforcement, policy and education goals.

 

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Contact Us
Cobb Alcohol Taskforce
3162 Johnson Ferry Rd., S-260
P.O. Box 823
Marietta, Georgia 30062
www.cobbat.org