Dave Johnson is Director of Member Relations & Business Development at RWHC

The Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative (RWHC) is pleased to announce that it, along with four member hospital partners, has received a Development Award through the Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program. “A Collaborative Response to Reduce Binge Drinking in Rural Wisconsin Communities” was one of nine projects awarded funding during this, the 9th annual cycle.

RWHC and the academic partners from the Medical College of Wisconsin will work with Gundersen Boscobel Area Hospital & Clinics (Boscobel), Moundview Memorial Hospital & Clinics (Friendship), The Monroe Clinic (Monroe), and Southwest Health Center (Platteville) to develop and implement a program aimed at reducing binge drinking in rural Wisconsin Communities. This project is funded (in part or in whole) by the Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program, a component of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin endowment at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

One example of how the program will function is through a screening process for patients as they visit a hospital and/or clinic setting.  The patient will answer a set of questions from the AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) screening tool.  Those answers will then be scored by clinic staff, and if the result is a score that identifies risky drinking behavior, the patient is offered the opportunity to meet with a Health Educator to learn more about binge drinking, and what local resources may be available to assist in changing existing drinking behaviors.  In the event the Health Educator is not available, the patient can have a virtual meeting with the Health Educator at one of the other participating hospitals through the use of a tele-health modality. 

Wisconsin ranks highest in the nation in the percentage of adults who binge drink.  Binge drinking is often classified as “five or more drinks for a male, and four or more drinks for a female on one occasion”.  It is hoped that the through the work of this grant project, adults of legal drinking age in the participating communities will learn more about how binge drinking can lead to chronic health problems, and change their behaviors accordingly.   

The 9th Request for Proposals (RFP) generated responses from over 200 community and Medical College of Wisconsin partners submitting 62 Letters of Intent intended to impact residents throughout Wisconsin communities. Of those, 30 projects were invited to submit a full proposal. Twenty-seven (27) submitted and met technical eligibility requirements and underwent competitive review by a National Merit Panel and the MCW Consortium on Public and Community Health. Eight projects received Development Awards, and one project received an Impact Award. For more information, please contact Dave Johnson; 608-643-2343 or djohnson@rwhc.com