WineAmerica Partners with TIPS to Bring Responsible Alcohol Training to Wineries

WASHINGTON and ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 28, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- WineAmerica and Health Communications, Inc (HCI), providers of the TIPS (Training for Intervention ProcedureS) program, today announced a partnership that will promote responsible consumption of wine among wineries across the United States.  As the only winery trade association with national membership, WineAmerica is dedicated to advancing the social responsibility interests of the American wine industry. Founded in 1978, WineAmerica serves as the educational, technical, and informational clearinghouse for wineries. "Whether it be tastings, a festival, on-site restaurant or retail store, wineries have unique challenges when it comes to promoting responsible sales and service. TIPS has the ability to not only train WineAmerica members to prevent the misuse of alcohol, but also can help build bridges and break barriers within the communities that wineries operate in," said Adam Chafetz, President & CEO of HCI.

HCI was founded in 1982 by Dr. Morris Chafetz, founding director of the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. HCI is a nationally recognized expert in the field of alcohol server and seller training. Its flagship program, TIPS, was the first of its kind and continues to set industry standards.  Numerous academics, public officials and government agencies have recognized and endorsed TIPS training as life saving and critical to the progress made in reducing alcohol-related incidents.  Proven effective by third-party studies, TIPS is a skills-based training program that is designed to prevent intoxication, underage drinking, and drunk driving. TIPS gives individuals the knowledge and confidence they need to recognize potential alcohol-related problems and intervene to prevent alcohol-related tragedies. TIPS offers seven programs that address the unique environments where alcohol is served, sold, and consumed, including On Premise, Off Premise, Concessions, Gaming, University, Seniors, and Workplace. Over the past 30 years, TIPS has certified over 3 million servers worldwide in the TIPS program. There are TIPS-certified people in all 50 states and over 40 foreign countries.

WineAmerica will be rolling out a customized TIPS program to their members by the end of this month.  In addition, WineAmerica will be launching a web page that will be dedicated to providing their members with the resources they need to encourage social responsibility and implement TIPS at their wineries.  For more information about WineAmerica, visit www.wineamerica.org.  For more information about TIPS, visit www.gettips.com.  

Contact:
Trevor Estelle
Health Communications, Inc.   
703-524-1200 ext. 357
[email protected]

Michael Kaiser
WineAmerica
202-223-5172
[email protected]

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SOURCE Health Communications, Inc.