It’s a situation no one wants to face: a friend is violently ill from alcohol poisoning and needs immediate medical attention.

For those times when a student’s life may be in serious danger, Creighton has the Creighton Alcohol Recovery and Education program.

“The CARE program was designed to address what we consider one of the most serious issues with the misuse of alcohol,” said Tanya Winegard, assistant vice president for Student Life, “and that is intoxication or drinking to the point where you’re potentially medically putting yourself at risk or your judgment may be so impaired so that good decision making isn’t occurring.”

Winegard, who is the administrator of the program, said CARE started in the ’03-’04 academic year.

“I think, in this day and age, we just can’t not respond to [alcohol poisoning] and not have a procedure in place to address it.”

It starts when a student is identified, one way or another, as being intoxicated and ill. The student or staff member who recognizes the situation contacts the resident director on duty or a student services staff professional. Public safety is also notified as well as a health aide.

The health aide tests the student with field sobriety testing and administers a breathalyzer. If the student is at or above a .08 blood alcohol level, the student is transported to Creighton University Medical Center by either Public Safety or a rescue squad, depending on the student’s condition. Once at the hospital, physicians decide what to do next.

“While this is a team approach, we really do rely on their medical expertise and judgment,” Winegard said.

After the incident, the student has to meet with a hearing officer, where he or she generally faces disciplinary probation, suspension or expulsion. Before CARE, there were no set procedures to follow in case of emergencies.

“What CARE has done is put those procedures in place in the spirit of taking care of the individual person,” Winegard said. “We just didn’t want to have the unthinkable happen here, to have a student who someone put to bed, thinking they were going to be OK, not wake up the next morning.”

When asked if CARE is an effective program, Winegard said she honestly isn’t sure. Incidents of students being sent to CARE are down this year, but, she said, it could be attributed to any number of factors. Also, in the years since CARE has been implemented, there were some years when alcohol-related incidents have gone up. Winegard said she doesn’t believe Creighton can totally eliminate drinking on campus without a national cultural change surrounding drinking.

“We have people who are thankful that it’s there because they’re really scared at how their friend is acting and they want to reach out and they know that resource is there,” Winegard said. “And then I’ve heard the rumblings of students saying, ‘Well, you’re just driving it all off-campus, you’re just driving it all underground.’

“I think the verdict’s still out, but I think that there’s enough good there that just because this is a challenging issue for the Creighton community, as well as society as a whole, we don’t need to throw out the practice or the policies because we aren’t totally addressing the issue.”

Arts & Sciences senior Marie Young is a resident adviser in Kiewit Hall who said she usually has to deal with a CARE case about once a month. At the beginning of the semester, she talks to the freshmen on her floor about alcohol. “The way we approach [it] is CARE is really about watching your health,” she said. “At our very first floor meeting we talk about alcohol and what happens if you abuse it.”

When a student becomes dangerously intoxicated, Young’s job is to call the resident director and stay with the student until a breathalyzer can be administered. If the student is taken to the hospital, Young has to go with him or her.

Young said she thinks CARE is a success and it is essential to have a program on campus. “I wouldn’t say it’s a deterrent to drinking,” she said. “I do think it deters [students] from getting way too drunk.

“They really are serious health risks, so I think it’s a successful program. If it’s not the solution, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.”

To increase CARE’s effectiveness, Winegard said, the CARE Opportunities program was enacted. “In my experience, since CARE’s been here, the students who are most critical of the program are the ones who haven’t gone but feel like they have the most to lose because of that status of disciplinary probation.”

Students sentenced to disciplinary probation and who have been cooperative with University officials during the documentation of the CARE incident can go to five, 45 to 60 minute sessions and meet with counselors. Students who have been to CARE before cannot apply and there’s a $100 fee.

After completing the program, students can have their sentences reduced from probation to a reprimand, which allows them to apply for leadership programs and study abroad. The first class of students just completed the Opportunities program. Twelve were given the opportunity to take the classes and six completed them.

“We wanted to have something out there that would be considered a little more positive to try to alleviate some of the negative impacts, because CARE really was never designed to be punitive, but I think that is perceived that way by some of the student population,” Winegard said.