The DU Health Center and Porter Adventist Hospital initiated a healthy communities program this week, sponsoring presentations on campus designed to promote awareness about individual and national health.

The initiative began last week with the display of a heavily damaged car outside of Sturm.

The car was totaled in an accident by a driver who was under the influence of alcohol. It was displayed in hopes that the car would remind students of the risks and consequences of driving drunk.

Additionally, the program sponsored three presentations on campus, the first of which, “The Future of Health Care,” happened last night.

This presentation focused on contemporary issues surrounding national health care and included information from pharmaceutical representatives and hospital administrators. Leland R. Kaiser, Ph.D., and a renowned expert on the future of health care, also contributed to the discussion.

Tonight in room 151 of Sturm Hall there will be a panel discussion regarding the issues surrounding the “Body Worlds 2” exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.

The panel will include religious studies professors presenting the issue in terms of Jdiasm, Christianity and Islam ethics and a science professor who will speak in regards to science ethics. Finally, a staff member from the university who wrote his M.A. thesis in Art History on Gunther van Hagens and his process will present on the panel. Questions will also be taken from the audience to the panel.

On May 31 in Davis Auditorium, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., a panel will discuss the impact of alcohol in young peoples’ lives, particularly that of binge drinking and substance abuse.

It will have two parts, one concerning strategically placing wrecked cars from DUI accidents in various locations in the surrounding five mile area of DU and Porter to impact and increase awareness of school ages kids who in essences cannot be reached through a lecture.

The second part is to host an evening lecture for the Denver Metro community with school aged kids regarding the impact of binge drinking and substance abuse, addressing the problem and understanding the overall health risk, according to www.reactration.du.edu. The panel is a follow-up on the damaged car present on campus designed to articulate the consequences of drunk driving.

For more information on these upcoming events, visit www.recreation.du.edu.