The creator of an alcohol poisoning education program spoke to Drexel University students Oct. 24 in The Summit about preventing alcohol-related deaths and how this relates to the university’s alcohol amnesty policy.

The initiative, called “Don’t Stall, Just Call,” was created by Mary Ciammetti in 2015 after she lost her son — a student at Temple University —  to alcohol poisoning.

“Don’t Stall, Just Call was created out of the tremendous grief of losing our son in an unimaginable way — from binge drinking,” Ciammetti said. “Our program was created in hopes that no other families would ever have to endure or stand in our shoes — losing a child because of lack of education.”

Ciammetti’s mission is to ensure that all young people can recognize and quickly react to the symptoms of alcohol poisoning. The most common signs are stumbling, mumbling, being cool to touch or blue-ish in color, unresponsiveness and vomiting, she explained.

Citing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she explained how alcohol poisoning can set in after four drinks in a two-hour period for females, and after five drinks for males.

Ciammetti played a presentation about her son, explaining how he had been passionate about his studies, was interested in ceramics, enjoyed the outdoors and was an overall nice person. He was a fortunate student and “had it all going on,” according to Ciammetti, and the family never thought he would have turned to alcohol.

“Christian became a binge drinker in college, and by the time we found out, it was too late,” Ciammetti said to the audience, which consisted of representatives from the university police department.

She explained how after a night of intense drinking, her son demonstrated every single sign of alcohol poisoning. His friends did not know the symptoms and put him to bed. The next morning, they found him cool to the touch and blue, and he was rushed to Temple University Hospital but passed away after seven days on life support.

“We tried to pick up the pieces of life,” Ciammetti said. “How you do that, I don’t know. We are still trying.”

While her story is personal, she explained how this was not an isolated incident.

“This can happen to anybody,” she said. “Why aren’t we talking about it?”

She tells her story so that it doesn’t keep happening, she said.

Ally Maier, a freshman studying mechanical engineering who attended the talk, said she enjoyed this more personalized approach, especially compared to the former high school programming she was exposed to.

“It was very personal,” she said. “It hit home.”

Jenna Harju, a sophomore music industry student, said the presentation surpassed the university’s freshman seminar on alcohol.

“This was way more personal and it gets the message across better,” she said.

In addition to creating the “Don’t Stall, Just Call” campaign, Ciammetti often travels to high schools and colleges to share her story and highlight individual campus policies.

She explained how Drexel has a medical amnesty policy for life-threatening emergencies that protects the caller and the underaged drinker from being cited.

Thomas Cirone, a community relations police officer, expanded on the policy, explaining how it protects students and encourages them to call when they need help. He added that since instating the policy, the department has received more calls on weekends and has seen more use of the Drexel Guardian app, an anonymous text messaging service to report emergencies.

“Nobody calls your parents, because you are all over 18, and nobody gets in trouble,” Cirone said. “We just want to keep you on the right path, and hopefully you learn from the experience and make the most out of your college years and your education.”

Sheena Vaildin, a sophomore studying health sciences, said that both Ciammetti and Cirone highlighted a prevalent issue on college campuses and discussed a policy that not enough students know about.

“We see it all the time and nobody gives two thoughts,” she said. “I wish more people would hear this.”

The policy has been adopted by many colleges in Pennsylvania, though Ciammetti advocated that it should be on every college campus.

People recognize what choking looks like and know how to react, she said. We can’t say the same about alcohol poisoning.

“I knew the only way we could make a change in our culture is if we start talking about it and learning about it and preventing it from happening again,” she said. “We believe, with education, that we can save lives.”

Drexel University’s German Club and Honors Student Advisory Committee joined together Oct. 26 to host the first ever Drexel Oktoberfest in the Bossone Lobby, where students gathered together for three hours for a taste of German cuisine and culture.

This year marked the 182nd Oktoberfest, which took place from Sept. 16 until Oct. 3, following the typical 16-day duration. The festival began more than 200 years ago to celebrate the matrimony of Bavaria’s Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on Oct. 12, 1810. Several days of drinking, dining and horse racing commemorated the wedding. The celebration has become an annual event ever since. The festival is celebrated all over the world, but the main event is held in Munich, Germany.

Oktoberfest is typically known as the largest beer-drinking festival in the world. More than 7.5 million liters are consumed each year for the festival. According to regulations, only beer brewed from one of Munich’s six breweries are allowed to be served. The festival traditionally starts when the mayor taps the first keg, announcing “O’Zapft is!” meaning “It’s tapped!” The festival features far more than beer, including music, games, amusement rides and a traditional Bavarian fair.

Drexel students brought together a non-alcoholic version of the festival to bring German culture to its student body that featured German food, games, music, and speeches from Drexel students.

The event was led by the Drexel German Club, an organization with a mission to spread German culture and language throughout the Drexel student body. The Drexel German Club includes a mentorship program called the Deutsch Study Buddy Program that helps students fuse German culture into the Drexel experience by providing study-abroad guidance, social networking and even resources to help students brush up their German language skills.

Amarah Malik, a pre-junior double majoring in health administration and finance, is the founder and president of the club and was in charge of planning the event.

“After six months of actively planning this event, I was very proud to see the level of interest that I sparked in learning about the German culture,” she said.

Malik has worked with Drexel students and faculty since April to bring the event together.

“Drexel students and faculty members who attended had the goal of learning about the history and traditions of Oktoberfest. The culture was all around to be experienced through the food, music, dance, and even talking to Drexel’s German Club members,” Malik said.

The event was led by a few student speakers sharing their German experiences, beginning with Timothy Sperry, a senior international business major completing an exchange program in Lebow College of Business. Sperry gave a video presentation of his experience attending Oktoberfest in Munich, adding a visually authentic element to the event.

Sperry was followed by Simone Schlichting-Artur, a teaching professor of German in the Department of Global Studies and Modern Languages. Professor Schlichting-Artur spoke about opportunities to learn German at Drexel including German classes offered and intensive courses abroad to immerse yourself in both the Drexel and German learning experience.

Speeches were concluded with James Atkinson, a senior finance and international business major, sharing his study abroad experience at Manheim University. Atkinson narrated numerous traveling stories set all over Germany, including his visit to the Oktoberfest in Munich. Despite the actual distance, these experiences brought audience members closer to Germany and its culture.

Drexel’s Oktoberfest presented an opportunity to celebrate not only the German culture, but also the vast array of opportunities at Drexel to learn German, study abroad/co-op in Germany and network with other German-speaking faculty members.

On Oct. 5, the gavel brought down a final verdict on Joseph Howanski, the Drexel alumnus who shot and killed Merlos Mukaj on Nov. 28, 2017. Almost a full year after the incident, Howanski was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter, possession of an instrument of crime and reckless endangerment.

The trial began around 9:30 a.m. when Judge Barbara McDermott entered the small courtroom. The room was packed with people, mostly friends and family of the parties involved. In fact, there were so many people in the audience that some had to sit in the hallway.

Howanski silently acknowledged his friends and family that were there. The families of Mukaj and his fiance were seated at the opposite end of the room. The trial began with the defense, spearheaded by Fortunato N. Perri Jr., and the prosecution, led by Ed Jaramillo, giving their opening remarks and laying out the basis of their argument.

Perri called the night of Nov. 28 a “perfect storm of events that occur in succession.”

He argued that the shooting was purely self-defense, since Mukaj attacked Howanski first. He also highlighted that Mukaj was known to have an aggressive attitude, painting a picture of Howanski as a bystander monitoring a situation and only intervening because he was forced to.

On the other hand, Jaramillo put heavy emphasis that Howanksi had owned and trained with a gun for several months prior. On the night of the event, he failed to call the police or ask for assistance of any kind.

Additionally, because of Howanski was not injured, Jaramillo claimed that “in no way, shape, or form could [Howanski] tell us that he was in danger of death or bodily harm.”

Several key witness were brought to testify. Two of Howanski’s former roommates, Andrew Kennedy and Robert Poston, explained that a few months before the incident, Howanski had had an encounter with a hostile and unfamiliar individual, which sparked his desire to purchase a gun, as well as a license to carry. Their testimony, along with several others, fleshed out the intricate details of the event.

According to key witnesses, surveillance footage from Ed’s Pizza, and supplemental evidence, the following events took place the night of Nov. 28, 2017. Merlos Mukaj met his fiance, Samantha Door, at Aloosh Hookah bar at approximately 9 p.m. Mukaj got into an argument with the bartender, who was a friend of his, which sparked an argument between Mukaj and Door, who graduated Drexel this year. The two left the establishment and continued arguing until they stopped on the west end of the 3500 block of Lancaster Avenue at around 11:35 p.m.

After a few minutes, Joseph Howanski and his roommates passed by the couple, heading east to pick up a food order from Savas. Howanski claimed he recognized Door from a mutual friend, who previously had an encounter with Door and Mukaj when they were having an argument and tried to intervene.

Mukaj and the mutual friend had engaged in a “tussle” which resulted in a sprained thumb for the mutual friend. The group continued to Savas, but were still concerned about the arguing couple. Two of the roommates went into Savas to get their order, but Howanski and his boyfriend Poston walked toward the couple to “make sure [Door] wasn’t going to be physically hurt.”

While walking towards the couple, they encountered Cara DePiano and her roommate, who were coming out of Ed’s Pizza. The women asked if Howanski had called public safety yet, who replied that he had not, because the women appeared to already be calling them. Howanski and Poston continued to approach the couple, stopping about 15 to 20 feet away. At approximately 11:40 p.m., the surveillance video shows Howanski lifting up his peacoat on his right side, the same side he kept his holstered gun on. He also pulled out his phone, but as Mukaj walked east, away from Door, Howanski put his phone away. Door began to follow, and as she passed, Howanski said something along the lines of, “Are you alright?” to which Door replied that she was fine.

Mukaj then turned around and extended his arms out and said towards Howanski, “Is there a problem, man?”

Mukaj continued to approach Howanski and pushed him off the curb into a parking spot. The surveillance video shows Mukaj taking two swipes at Howanski’s head, with one of the punches knocking off his glasses. In the middle of Mukaj’s third swing, Howanski unholstered his weapon and fired three shots into Mukaj’s chest, who collapsed sideways onto the ground.

The three remained on the scene until Drexel police arrived. Howanski stepped forward to confess to the shooting and handed over his weapon, and was subsequently arrested. Mukaj was taken to Penn Presbyterian Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Several experts were called upon to examine evidence and give their testimonies. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy, Dr. Victoria Sorokin, asserted that two of the three shots that Howanski fired would have been fatal on their own, with the third possibly causing fatality. She also confirmed the toxicology report, which stated that Mukaj had a BAC of 0.165 at the time of the incident, which is twice the legal limit.

Thorsten Lucke was the homicide detective responsible for creating the surveillance video compilation. During the trial, he reviewed several key moments in the video. Right before approaching the couple, Howanski can be seen lifting up the right side of his pea coat, the same side he kept his holstered gun on. When questioned, Howanski claimed he was simply pulling up his pants, but the prosecution insisted that he was making his gun available for quick use.

After all the evidence was presented and witnesses were thoroughly questioned, both sides gave their concluding arguments. The defense claimed that Howanski was legally justified in shooting Mukaj because there was no way to “prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was not using self-defense without the ability to find safe retreat.”

The defense also maintained that Howanski’s gun ownership and the fact that he was carrying a gun the night of the event did not constitute a crime. He had a license to carry, and his desire for gun ownership was fueled entirely by self-defense. The defense also presented that “he has a lot of supporters, pouring out of the courtroom.” Perri referred to the 36 character witnesses named earlier in the trial that could “testify to [Howanski’s] outstanding reputation for being a law-abiding citizen.”

Many of these people were friends or family of Howanski who had known him for years or even decades. The defense concluded by painting Howanski as bystander who ended up in a fight he never wanted to be in. It was Mukaj’s third aggressive encounter of the night, and Howanski was terrified. He was under the threat of being hit by car, he couldn’t see without his glasses, and ultimately, he shot because it was the only thing he could do.

However, the prosecution claimed that Howanski shot Mukaj out of malice. The prosecution pointed out that Howanski did not contact police before he approached the couple. They also emphasized the fact that Howanski had to pull the trigger three times to fire three shots. Mukaj was unarmed at the time, wearing nothing but a t-shirt and holding nothing but a pack of cigarettes in his hands. Howanski was physically larger than Mukaj, and after the incident, had no injuries to his face.

The prosecution claimed that Howanski “did not reasonably believe he was in danger, he told police that, ‘I wasn’t going to get beat up, so I shot him.’” Because he was not facing a serious threat of bodily harm or death, the prosecution assumed he was acting with malice.

Ultimately, Judge McDermott did not find evidence of malice, but she also did not find that Howanski was justified in using deadly force. She found him guilty of voluntary manslaughter rather than third-degree murder, and also of reckless endangerment and possession of an instrument of crime. Additionally, she revoked his bail because he was not residing within the city — by Oct. 18, however, Howanski’s bail was reinstated pending sentencing.

In Pennsylvania, voluntary manslaughter carries a maximum of 20 years for first-time offenders. Howanski’s sentencing hearing take place Jan. 7.

The opioid crisis has been an ongoing public health emergency for quite some time, but Sarah Wenger, an associate clinical professor at Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions, and the American Physical Therapy Association are taking steps to fight back.

Dr. Wenger is a part of the #ChoosePT campaign, an effort to educate people who experience chronic pain about effective pain management techniques, such as physical therapy.

“Up until now, [the campaign] has been about information, like the CDC’s recommendations about how dangerous opioids are, as well as information about what [physical therapy] does,” said Dr. Wenger. “Now [we’re] starting to turn our focus to policy recommendations, [the material] students learn in school, and what information we need to get practicing physical therapists.”

APTA first found Dr. Wenger through her work with a psychoeducational group called Power Over Pain. Through her work at the Stephen and Sandra Sheller 11th Street Family Health Services, a Drexel-supported federally qualified health center, Wenger helps underserved populations manage chronic pain. Through this work, Dr. Wenger and an interdisciplinary group developed Power Over Pain. APTA chose Dr. Wenger because of her vast clinical experience, which they valued over research experience.

“APTA was looking for someone who could do something with actual patients, given the information we actually have,” Dr. Wenger said.

Dr. Wenger has several specific goals in mind when it comes to the future of both the #ChoosePT campaign and chronic pain management in general.

“We would like people in pain to be treated like equals, more comprehensively, more holistically, and more interprofessionally. We would also like to see some policy changes, such as the way people are reimbursed and the way healthcare is organized. Right now it’s not really organized to efficiently treat chronic problems, it’s organized to treat acute issues,” she said.

The campaign has been taking large strides in educating people about pain management, including the proper use of opioids. Dr. Wenger has seen many cases of people being given opioids without any other options and no education about things like how long they should be taking the opioids and what side-effects to look for.

“People who don’t want to be on [opioids] in the first place are still prescribed them. Patients who have addiction running in their families are prescribed opioids after surgery, and they’re terrified,” Wenger said. “The best advice for the general public is to ask questions. If you or someone you know are prescribed opioids, make sure to ask questions like ‘Do I have to take opioids?’ and ‘How can I manage my pain in a way that isn’t going to hurt me?’”

Beyond educating individual patients, Dr. Wenger is focused on delivering effective information inside the classroom. Wenger is educating students who are training to be practitioners, and she is making sure that they give their patients options when it comes to pain management. She teaches her students with cutting-edge knowledge about topics like addiction, psychological issues, and chronic pain.

In the future, she hopes to expand the content in her curriculum. This would include interprofessional chronic pain content, having students learn based off of material developed by an interprofessional team, rather than having each group of physical therapists, doctors, and therapists learn about chronic pain from their own profession.

Finally, Dr. Wenger concluded with her takeaway about the opioid crisis.

“I think the opioid crisis will be a hot topic for a few more years, and then it won’t be hot anymore. But I think it points out that chronic pain and addiction have been a problem forever. The opioid crisis is an acutely growing problem that definitely needs to be addressed, but it highlights things in healthcare that need to change on a more global basis. We need to get better at things like dealing with like chronicity, interprofessional care, and patient education, and that spans any diagnosis.”

For more information about Dr. Wenger’s work with pain management, visit her website at poweroverpain.sarah.pt.