VicHealth aims to change Warrnambool’s view of booze in world-first trial

A WORLD-first trial will hijack messages from the beverage industry in a bid to change a whole Victorian town’s relationship with alcohol after a survey of hospital patients with booze-related injuries found most had been drinking at home.

A TRIAL in Victoria’s southwest is aiming to change an entire town’s relationship with alcohol.

VicHealth is preparing to hijack messages from the beverage industry in Warrnambool and replace them with information about alcohol-related harms specific to the town.

Deakin University researchers and emergency department nurses surveyed patients who attended the local hospital for alcohol-related injuries to ask where they had their last drink.

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VicHealth is preparing to hijack messages from the beverage industry in Warrnambool

Overwhelmingly, most patients — many who had serious facial and hand injuries from falling while drunk — had been drinking at home.

VicHealth’s principle program officer for alcohol and tobacco, Maya Rivis said the six month pilot program would use mainstream and social media, plus community organisations to promote local statistics and information about the harms of alcohol in their own town.

“Every day people see messages about alcohol associated with good times and success,” Ms Rivis said.

“We are going to release this harm data regularly so the community hear it, and hopefully start to realise alcohol is not a benign substance and is causing a lot of harm.”

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