The Health Alliance on Alcohol Releases Second in Series of Educational Booklets to Attack Underage Drinking

Contact:
David Bray

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Email: david.bray@eurorscg.com

White Plains, NY-January 27, 2006-The Health Alliance on Alcohol (HAA), a national education initiative to combat underage consumption of alcohol through effective parent child communications, today announced the publication of Facts & Conversations; Talking to Teens: Peer Pressure." The second in a nine-part series, produced by the HAA partnership of NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System (NYPHS), White Plains Hospital Center (WPHC) and Heineken USA, focuses on how peer pressure influences underage drinking and how adults can address the issue with their teens through conversation.

"Underage drinking is often influenced by peer pressure," said Karen Soren, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Public Health at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and co-author of the booklet. "As teens try to separate from their parents, they are increasingly influenced by their peers. By keeping up an ongoing dialogue with their children, parents can positively influence the decisions their children make. 'Talking to Teens: Peer Pressure' will arm parents with the information and the proper techniques to initiate these necessary-and often difficult-conversations with their children."

Facts & Conversations; "Talking to Teens: Peer Pressure" defines peer pressure and the various ways it can impact an adolescent, and offers age-appropriate conversation starters for parents whose children may be affected by peer pressure.

"The booklet provides parents with some sample conversations and basic guidelines to follow that will help their children at varied stages of development to recognize and resist pressures to drink," said Elyse Olshen Kharbanda, M.D., MPH and co-author of the booklet. "By knowing the facts, parents will be better equipped to initiate conversations that positively influence how their children respond to negative peer pressure."

Booklets in the series will be distributed through several different channels. White Plains Hospital Center will make Facts & Conversations available in hospital waiting rooms, lobbies and reception areas. NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System will similarly offer the booklets to patients and their families. Additionally, College Parents of America will offer the booklets to their appropriate audience in a circulation of more than 60,000 parent members. The HAA is actively working to inform parents about the issues and dangers associated with underage drinking and provide these tools through appropriate channels that will expand with the series.

"White Plains Hospital is proud to join New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System and Heineken USA on this important initiative," said Jon Schandler, President and CEO of White Plains Hospital Center. "We believe the second book in the series is a critical tool in helping parents address the issues of underage consumption of alcohol and peer pressure."

The brochures can be read online at both www.EnjoyHeinekenResponsibly.com and www.HealthAllianceonAlcohol.com. There will be no cost for download or a hard-copy order of the brochure.

Health Alliance on Alcohol
The Health Alliance on Alcohol is a national education initiative on underage consumption of alcohol through parent/child communications that includes partner members Heineken USA; the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System, the largest secular not-for-profit non-governmental healthcare system in the U.S.; and White Plains Hospital Center, a voluntary, not-for-profit health care organization with the primary mission of offering high-quality, acute health care and preventative medical care to people who live in, work in or visit Westchester County and its surrounding areas. Please visit www.HealthAllianceonAlcohol.com.

The NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System
The NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System, the largest secular not-for-profit non-governmental health care system in the U.S., is committed to providing high-quality, cost-effective, and accessible care to communities throughout the greater New York Metropolitan region. The System, made up of 34 acute care hospitals, 100 ambulatory sites, 7 residential health care facilities, three specialty institutions, and more than 13,000 affiliated physicians, serves one in four patients in the Greater New York Metropolitan Area. System members are affiliates of the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University or Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. During 2004, System institutions discharged more than 500,000 inpatient cases and provided more than 5,000,000 outpatient visits. For additional information, visit www.nyp.org.

White Plains Hospital Center
White Plains Hospital Center is a voluntary, not-for-profit health care organization with the primary mission of offering high quality, acute health care and preventative medical care in a compassionate manner to all people who live in, work in or visit Westchester County and its surrounding areas. The Hospital has the busiest Emergency Department in Westchester County treating approximately 42,000 patients in 2004. Its "Centers of Excellence" include cardiology, emergency medicine, endoscopy, minimally invasive surgery, oncology, orthopedics, neonatal and maternity and radiology. The Hospital has won the National Research Corporation "Consumer Choice Award" for Westchester County for times, most recently in 2004. WPHC is an affiliate of the New York- Presbyterian Healthcare System and a member of Stellaris Health Network, Inc. and Voluntary Hospitals of America, Inc. For further information, please call 914-681-1119 or log onto our website at www.wphospital.org.

Heineken USA
Heineken USA Inc., the nation's largest beer importer, is a subsidiary of Heineken International (Netherlands), which is the world's most international brewer. The Company and its affiliates are firmly committed to promoting responsible consumption of beverage alcohol. Among other distinctions, Heineken was the first brewer in the world to place a responsibility message on all of its bottles and cans. Heineken was also the first alcohol company to place a responsibility message on all of its television, radio and print advertising. Please visit www.EnjoyHeinekenResponsibly.com.