Do you know about the Poison Centers and all that they offer?
Last week, Shelly Clary from the Virginia Poison Center gave a wonderful presentation on Summer Safety and Poison Prevention. The recorded session is now available in Talent@VCU under Work Life Playlists. Below is more information about the Poison Center.
•There are 55 poison centers across the country
•Three poison centers serve Virginia: •Virginia Poison Center (green) •Blue Ridge Poison Center (purple) •National Capital Poison Center (orange) •
•Each center is nationally certified as a regional poison center by the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) •
•Poison centers are a free, confidential, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week emergency service that assist residents and physicians with cases of exposures to poisonous chemicals, venoms, vapors, or medications •
•Also answer non-emergency questions about poisons and poison safety •
•When a person dials the toll free number it will call the nearest U.S. Poison Center based on your phone’s area code •
•In 2022, the Virginia Poison Center received an average of 2,255 calls a month for human exposures
Why do Poison Centers Exist
•Poisoning is the leading cause of unintentional injury death in the United States (WISQARS, CDC 2020) •
•Studies show that in 2020, unintentional poisoning was one of the top four leading causes of nonfatal emergency department visits in the United States for adults ages 25-64 (WISQARS, CDC, 2020) •
•Over 2 million human exposures reported to US Poison Centers in 2021 (National Poison Data System 2021)
•Approximately 41% occurred in children five years or younger in the United States (National Poison Data System 2021) •
•93% of poisoning cases in the United States occurred in a residence (National Poison Data System 2021) •
•67% of those cases were managed on site where the exposure occurred (National Poison Data System 2021) •
•Our goal is to assist in emergency poisoning situations, manage as many cases on site as possible, and to provide the necessary education in order to spread awareness of potential poisons and to reduce future poisoning incidents.
