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Earlier this week, the new Community Health Specialist was holding up a poster he brought back from a national conference on alcohol and other drug prevention, seeing how it might fill that empty space.
He hopes to spread a message of healthier behavior beyond those walls.
Vogel started his job Sept. 24, and already has a comprehensive health education plan for the campus, he said. It includes marketing campaigns, working with high-risk student drinkers, coordinating peer educators, organizing events and providing presentations, pamphlets and other information to the community.
The goal, he said, is to reduce excessive alcohol consumption by emphasizing the potentially dangerous consequences.
La Crosse’s string of river drownings involving intoxicated college-age men has put the community in the spotlight, Vogel said, yet colleges across the country wrestle with the problem of alcohol abuse.
“As a campus community and as a larger community, we need to have honest conversations,” said Vogel. “We need to not sweep the issue under the rug.”
Those honest conversations must get beyond the glamorized images of alcohol on billboards and television ads, and acknowledge some of the negative results, such as drunken driving, missed classes, fights and even sexual assault.
Student Aron McManus, director of the Operation River Watch volunteer patrol, said their project and Vogel’s position both will help ensure students are safe and educated about the risks of drinking too much.
“He brings a lot of fresh ideas and enthusiasm to the position,” said McManus. “From early impressions, I feel he will really be able to make a difference.”
But Vogel said his job is not to preach against drinking or judge student behavior.
He’ll talk about the option of not drinking, he said, or if they choose to drink, doing it in a safe manner and in moderation.
“We have to be realistic,” he said. “Alcohol is everywhere. People drink. We have to start making better choices about the quantity people drink.”
As his title of Community Health Specialist implies, Vogel will handle other topics as well, such as stress reduction, nutrition, exploring gender roles in society, self-esteem and sexual reproduction.
Vogel earned a bachelor’s degree in education-health and a master’s degree in health promotion and program management from Central Michigan University. He taught part-time at universities, and also worked on a year-long grant project for the Oregon Department of Health.
KJ Lang can be reached at (608) 791-8226 or klang@lacrossetribune.com.
