Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs
Section Newsletter
Fall 2004
From the Chair
Sept. 16, 2004
Dear ATOD Members:
As public health professionals and advocates you all play a key role in determining the future of public health priorities, especially in this pivotal election year. In a world that has sharply divided opinions on many issues, the public health community has maintained a steady focus on improving the quality of life of all American citizens. In spite of the tumultuous political climate, ATOD professionals are coming together in record numbers to: advocate for policies and preventive efforts; assure adequate treatment resources; and keep the pervasive problems associated with alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use in the public mind.
This year’s program of scientific sessions includes a comprehensive array of subjects that will inform, motivate, and inspire. Please join us in Washington, D..C for this year’s Annual Meeting (just days after the election). The ATOD awards ceremony/business meeting is on Tuesday, Nov. 9, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. This meeting is always a full house (with great food), and is a wonderful opportunity to network with your colleagues and get more involved with the ATOD Section. A preliminary copy of our time-saving ATOD-specific program is now available online at
http://www.hhd.org/apha. When we get room assignments, we will update this program – look for it on the Web at the last minute, or get a hard copy version at the ATOD booth (booth number 1365) in the exhibit hall.
We look forward to seeing you all in November!
Diana M. ContiATOD Chair
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ATOD Web Site Has Moved!
The ATOD Web site has moved. You can now find us at
http://www.hhd.org/apha.
Many thanks to
Health and Human Development Programs at the Educational Development Center (EDC) for hosting and maintaining our Web site. Health and Human Development Programs conducts and synthesizes research and guides practice toward the most effective policies and programs that promote healthy human development and reduce risk behaviors. You can find more information about Health and Human Development Programs at
http://www.hhd.org.
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2004 ATOD ELECTION RESULTS
The 2004 ATOD Section election results are in, and we would like to thank all who participated in the election, especially the candidates. We had an excellent slate, and the Nominating Committee hopes that all who ran will continue to be active in section activities.
Here are the results of the 2004 election:
- Chair-Elect: Bob Vollinger
- Secretary: Jamie Chriqui
- Section Council: Shereen Khatapoush, Jennifer Wierewille Norton
- Governing Council: Kris Bosworth, Johnnetta Davis-Joyce, Ann Mahony
The Section Council positions are for three years, and all other positions are for two years. All terms begin immediately following the close of the 2004 APHA Annual Meeting.
Congratulations to all!
Best wishes,
Norman Giesbrecht, Diana Conti, Frances StillmanATOD Nominating Committee - 2004 Election
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Join Us in Washington, D.C.!
Join us in discussing
Public Health and the Environment at the APHA 132nd Annual Meeting & Exposition, Nov. 6-10, 2004, in Washington, D.C. Discounts are available for students! Please check the APHA Web site at <
www.apha.org/meetings> for more information.
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E-ssentialLearning: Expanded Access to Annual Meeting Sessions
APHA is expanding the educational experience of both presenters and attendees at the APHA Annual Meeting by investing in LCD projectors, computers and new Web-based technology for all scientific sessions. This new technology will enable voice and PowerPoint presentations to be recorded and uploaded to the APHA Web site following the meeting, thus extending the life of the meeting and providing access to hundreds of actual scientific session presentations that Annual Meeting registrants may have missed while attending other sessions.
Annual Meeting attendees can receive full access to these expanded sessions by registering for E-ssentialLearning on the Annual Meeting registration form. Special introductory discounted fees are $25 for Annual Meeting session presenters, $50 for APHA members (who are not session presenters), and $100 for non-members and are in effect for anyone registering for the full APHA Annual Meeting by the Oct. 1 pre-registration deadline. These fees will increase substantially for anyone registering on-site at the Annual Meeting in Washington.
Log-in information and password access to these E-ssentialLearning sessions will be provided to registrants immediately following the Annual Meeting.
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AlcoholScreening.org Screens Over 200,000 Individuals for Risky Drinking
Is my drinking risky? At
AlcoholScreening.org, over 200,000 individuals have learned the answer to this question by taking a confidential, informative self-test to assess their drinking patterns. They then receive personalized feedback discussing whether their alcohol consumption is likely to be within safe limits, or if it may be harmful to their health, now or in the future. The feedback also consists of normative data, comparing them with others of the same age and gender to give a true sense of whether they drink more or less than their peers.
"Recent studies are showing that Internet users are focusing more and more of their time on searching for health information. AlcoholScreening.org is helping them with this by offering a simple easy-to-use tool to assess their personal drinking behavior," says Marc Belanger, project manager of AlcoholScreening.org. Answering all 13 questions only takes a few minutes, and all information is anonymous and confidential.
AlcoholScreening.org is a free service of Join Together, a project of the Boston University School of Public Health. The site launched during National Alcohol Awareness Month (April) 2001, and has since had more than 460,000 visitors. Many Web sites have linked to it, including About.com, the Montana and Massachusetts state health departments, Delta Airlines, SoberCity.com, the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, WebMD, and many universities across the country. AlcoholScreening.org has also been featured on the television programs CNN Presents and Dateline NBC, and in online reports on WebMD, CNN, MSNBC, and other media Web sites.
"I think much of the success of AlcoholScreening.org is not only that it's free to the public, but also the free promotional tools offered that consumers are using to promote it," says Belanger. "Not only do we offer Web graphics, but we've gone a bit further and made catchy print ads, envelope stuffers, and door-hangers, which are popular in university settings." For customization purposes, original working documents are available for each promotional piece. More information and downloads can be found at:
http://www.AlcoholScreening.org/Promote.
There are additional sites using the AlcoholScreening Syndication Tool. This technology seamlessly integrates the content of AlcoholScreening.org into the structure and design of a third-party site. Two of many sites chosen to be syndication partners are
Unity Health Systems and the
Montana State University Counseling Center. The syndication tool allows for the capturing of anonymous usage data and the ability to add customized content into the various resource sections.
AlcoholScreening.org also features answers to frequently asked questions about alcohol and health, links to support resources, and a database of 11,000 local treatment programs throughout the United States. For no-nonsense, health-based alcohol use information, visit
http://www.AlcoholScreening.org/Promote.
Join Together is a national resource supporting community-based efforts to reduce substance use disorders and gun violence. More information about Join Together is available at:
http://www.JoinTogether.org.
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Center for Tobacco Cessation Newsletter
The Center for Tobacco Cessation (CTC) publishes a free electronic newsletter focused solely on tobacco cessation. The newsletter lists citations and abstracts from recently
published articles, includes program and policy updates on federal and state activities, and links to recent mass media stories. It also includes upcoming meetings and conferences. You can check out CTC and preview a past newsletter at
http://www.ctcinfo.org. You can also sign up for the newsletter on the Web site or by e-mailing CTC at <
ctc@cancer.org>.
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Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration funds the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network to identify and advance opportunities for improving addiction treatment. The network's vision is to unify science, education and services to transform the lives of individuals and families affected by alcohol and other drug addiction.
The network undertakes a broad range of initiatives that respond to emerging needs and issues in the treatment field. The network focuses on upgrading the skills of existing practitioners and other health professionals and disseminating the latest science to the treatment community. ATTC creates a multitude of products and services that are timely and relevant to the many disciplines represented by the addiction treatment workforce.
Serving the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Pacific Islands, the ATTC Network operates as 14 individual regional centers and a national office. At the regional level, individual centers focus primarily on meeting the unique needs in their areas while also supporting national initiatives. The national office leads the network in implementing national initiatives and concurrently supports and promotes individual regional efforts. For more information and to subscribe to their electronic newsletter,
Eye on the Field, visit the ATTC Web site at: <
www.nattc.org/>.
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CSAP's Regional Alcohol and Drug Awareness Resource (RADAR) Network
CSAP's RADAR Network is the largest substance abuse prevention and treatment infrastructure consisting of more than 700 active centers worldwide. Visit <
http://ncadi.samhsa.gov/radar/> to learn more, get the latest RADAR Network news, or locate a RADAR Network center in your area.
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All Academics! Tell Your Students! Student Registration Has a Huge Discount
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ATOD Section Listserv
The ATOD Section has set up a listserv to help members communicate with each other on matters relating to policy, practice and research in the areas our section covers. The listserv is a way to quickly inform others of developments, solicit assistance on matters of ATOD policy and its implementation and alert our members to opportunities and events of interest.
Control of the listserv will remain exclusively with the ATOD Section, and all listings will be kept strictly confidential. Messages will be disseminated only after the sender and message content have been "vetted" as appropriate for our section.
To join the listserv, e-mail your name and e-mail address to the Listserv Coordinator, Marilyn Daley, at <
daley@brandeis.edu>.
To provide a message for posting (after vetting), e-mail the material to the Listserv Coordinator, Marilyn Daley, at <
daley@brandeis.edu>. You do not have to be a member of the Listserv to post messages.
Tell your colleagues about upcoming events, conferences, programs, research, opportunities or anything you are interested in.
If your e-mail address changes, or you wish to unsubscribe, e-mail Marilyn as well.
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We Need Your E-mail Address!
Now that the Section and Special Primary Interest Group newsletters are online, it is imperative that APHA has your correct,
most up-to-date e-mail address so we can e-mail you when your new Section/SPIG newsletter is posted.
CLICK HERE to learn more. You will be prompted for your username and password. Your username is your seven-digit membership ID # (you can find it on the mailing label on your
American Journal of Public Health or
The Nation's Health). Your password is the first initial of your first name and your full last name (e.g., jsmith).
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Join APHA and the ATOD Section
To join the ATOD Section as a new APHA member, go to the APHA Web site at <
www.apha.org>. When you join APHA, you can choose the ATOD Section as your primary or secondary section. (One primary section or SPIG is included in your APHA membership; additional ones cost $5 each. A secondary membership will provide you with everything except the right to vote on section matters).
To join the section if you are already an APHA member and would like to change SPIG or section, send an e-mail to <
membership.mail@apha.org>. Note that you should include your membership ID # (you can find it on the mailing label on your
American Journal of Public Health or
The Nation's Health; it's the first seven-digit number)!
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Conference Announcements
2004 NAADAC Annual Conference
Exploring New Frontiers -- The Latest Practical Tools for Quality CareOct. 6 - 9, 2004
West Yellowstone, MT
http://www.naadac.org/documents/display.php?DocumentID=44
56th Annual Institute on Psychiatric Services
Mental Health Disparities in the CommunityOct. 6 - 10, 2004
Hilton Atlanta Hotel, Atlanta, GA
http://www.psych.org/edu/ann_mtgs/ips/04/index.cfm
American Association for the Treatment of Opioid DependenceOct. 16 - 20, 2004
Wyndham Palace Resort & Spa, Orlando, FL
http://www.aatod.org/national.html
United States Conference on AIDS (USCA)Oct. 21 - 24, 2004
Philadelphia, PA
http://www.nmac.org/conferences/usca2004/2004 National Conference on Health Care and Domestic Violence
Health Consequences Over the LifespanOct. 22 - 23, 2004
Park Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA
http://endabuse.org/health/conference/PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENT
APHA 132nd Annual Meeting & ExpositionNov. 6 – 10, 2004
Washington, D.C.
http://www.apha.org/meetingsAnnual Meeting of the International Society for Traumatic Stress StudiesNov. 14 – 18, 2004
Hilton New Orleans Riverside, New Orleans, LA
http://www.istss.org/meetings/futureDates.htm
Employee Assistance Professionals Association 33rd Annual Conference
Golden Opportunities: Strategies for GrowthNov. 18-20, 2004
San Francisco, CA
http://www.eapassn.org/public/pages/index.cfm?pageid=329
International Conference for Alcohol & Drug Addiction ProfessionalsDec. 1 – 4, 2004
Sheraton Atlanta Hotel, Atlanta, GA
http://www.naatp.org/secad/index.php
16th Annual Conference Resiliency
RESILIENCY: Hope, Choice and Self Determination for Children, Families and CommunitiesDec. 10 - 12, 2004
Renaissance Hotel, Washington, D.C.
Policy Day- December 9, 2004http://www.ffcmh.org/conference.html
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Note to Presenters
Presenters:
You can upload your presentations for LCD use at the APHA Annual Meeting by following the directions at:
<
www.apha.org/meetings/e-ssential_learning.htm>.
The deadline for uploading is Nov. 3rd.
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Share Your News!
This is your newsletter, so please send us information you would like to share with your colleagues. We're interested in summaries of conferences, commentaries on articles, research or policies and announcements about conferences. Have you recently changed jobs or accepted a new fellowship? Perhaps you keynoted a speech at a national meeting or were appointed to a national advisory committee or board. If you have important news, we'd like to hear about it and publish it in the APHA-ATOD Section Newsletter. Please e-mail your news to <
brolin@brandeis.edu> or fax to Mary Brolin at (781) 736-3928.
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2004 ATOD Section Leadership Roster
Please contact any officer for information and especially the committee chairs for areas in which you would like to become involved.
Chair:Diana Conti
dianac@parca.orgChair Elect:Fran Stillman
fstillma@jhsph.eduImmediate Past Chair:Norman Giesbrecht
norman_giesbrecht@camh.netSecretary:Jamie Chriqui
jchriqui@mayatech.comSection Councilors:Stella Aquinaga Bialous
stella@bialous.comLinda Bosma
bosma@epi.umn.eduKaren Gerlach
kgerlach@rwjf.orgTom Greenfield
tgreenfield@arg.orgAnn Mahony
amahony@samhsa.govRuth Malone
rmalone@itsa.ucsf.eduJohn Noble
jnoble@shs.netGoverning Councilors:Cheryl Cherpitel
ccherpitel@arg.orgJohnnetta Davis-Joyce
davis@pire.orgLaura Flinchbaugh
lflinchb@samhsa.govTraci Toomey
toomey@epivax.epi.umn.eduBob Vollinger
Bob.Vollinger@nih.govAction Board Representative:Leonard Lamkin
Lenny_Lamkin@ama-assn.orgAnnual Program Chair:Barry Bleidt
bbleidt@rx.llu.eduModerator Coordinator:Shereen Khatapoush
shereen@prev.orgAwards Chair:André Stanley
stanleag@dhec.sc.govCommunications Chair and Web Site Editor:Gabrielle Denmead
gabrielle.denmead@verizon.netNewsletter Editor:Mary Brolin
brolin@brandeis.eduListserv Coordinator:Marilyn Daley
daley@brandeis.eduMembership Chair:Fran Stillman
fstillma@jhsph.eduNominations Chair:Norman Giesbrecht
norman_giesbrecht@camh.netResolutions Co-Chairs:Kris Bosworth
bosworth@u.arizona.eduRichard Daynardr.daynard@neu.edu
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