The Aging Safely Prevention Coalition

The Aging Safely Prevention Coalition is a group of organizations and leaders, across twelve sectors of the community, that is committed to addressing binge drinking and alcohol misuse among the growing older adult population (45+) throughout Nassau and Suffolk County.

Binge drinking is defined as five or more alcoholic beverages for men and four or more alcoholic beverages for women in one sitting.

The Aging Safely Prevention Coalition is working towards creating a healthier Long Island by addressing environmental change strategies.

Our priority is to spread the use of SBIRT (SMAST-G) Screening Tool in the medical practitioner community for older adults.  SBIRT stands for Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment is an evidence-based approach to identity individuals who use alcohol and other substances at risky levels. The goal of SBIRT is to prevent and reduce the use of substances to mitigate related health consequences, disease, accidents and injuries through early intervention approach.

We are working towards mandating TIPS training for bar tenders & the expansion of the NYS DRAM Shop Act, which holds commercial alcohol servers liable for injuries caused by serving alcohol to minors OR visibly intoxicated individuals.

 Both of these environmental change strategies will be backed with social marketing campaigns to spread education and awareness to the community on the dangers of binge drinking in later life.