Alcohol and Health: Understanding Individual, Community, and Social Impacts of Alcohol

SAN RAFAEL, Calif., April 16, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Alcohol Justice Executive Director Cruz Avila, and Advocacy Director Raul Verdugo will be participating along with former Alcohol Justice Board Chair Richard Zaldivar in the 23^rd Annual UCLA Kaiser Permanente Equity Symposium.

What:  Daylong Symposium
Where: Center for Healthy Communities, California Endowment, 1000 Alameda St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
When: Wednesday, April 17, 2024 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Who: 

• Roshan Bastani, PhD, Director, UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity, Co-Director, Center for Cancer Prevention and Control Research UCLA Fielding School of Public Health
• Paul J. Chung, MD, MS, Chair of Health Systems Science, Acting Director for Health Equity Research Core Kaiser Permanente Bernard J Tyson School of Medicine
• Julio Meza, MD, Addiction and Family Medicine Physician, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, Psychiatry in Primary Care Certified Physician, UC Irvine
• Relampago del Cielo, Inc. Grupo Folklorico
• Brian Hurley, MD, MBA, DF, Medical Director, Substance Abuse Prevention and Control, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health
• Priscilla Martinez, PhD, MPhil, Scientist and Deputy Scientific Director, Alcohol Research Group, Public Health Institute
• Raul Verdugo, Director of Advocacy, Alcohol Justice
• Veronica Romero, Sound Bath
• Winston Wong, MD, MS, Chair, Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity, National Academy of Medicine Scholar-In-Residence, UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity
• Richard L. Zaldivar, Founder The Wall Las Memorias
• Cruz Avila, Executive Director, Alcohol Justice
• Sandy Logan, CFP, CCPS, ICPS, Program Director, Pueblo Y Salud

Why: This symposium offers a unique opportunity to glean insights from leading experts at the intersection of alcohol and health, understanding the impact of alcohol in our communities. The event is aimed at fostering discussions, sharing innovative ideas, encouraging networking, and inspiring action towards addressing unhealthy alcohol use.

Alcohol-related deaths are out of control in California. They rose from 10,800 deaths annually (Esser et al. 2020) in 2015 to 19,335 in 2021 (Jiménez, Demeter & Pinsker 2023). Alcohol-related driving fatalities also continued to rise, from 966 in 2019 to 1370 in 2021 (California OTS 2023). 

Alcohol cost $3,449 per capita in CA. Statewide, in total, alcohol costs 2.9x as much as illegal drug-related harm (NIH NLM 2017).

In 2021 there were 637,515 alcohol-related visits/admissions reported in California. Medi-Cal was the expected payer in 44.3%, Medicare in 24.4% - so 69% were public insurance. Acute alcohol harm visits were most likely to be in the 19–39-year-old age-range. Whites and Hispanics each account for 40.9 percent of ED Visits and ED Admissions for chronic alcohol-related conditions. These two race groups accounted for over 80 percent of all encounters. (California Department of Health Care Access and Information).

CONTACT:  Michael Scippa 415 847-3006

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SOURCE Alcohol Justice