Q. What’s the easiest, fastest and least expensive way to get medical advice if your child is stung by a bee, if you accidentally take your daily prescription medicine twice in one day, or if grandma served warm tuna fish sandwiches at a picnic and now everyone is feeling sick?
A. Call the Nebraska Regional Poison Center.
One call to the Nebraska Regional Poison Center can provide quick, reliable and free assistance in dealing with possible poisonings at any time of the day or night, often without a costly trip to the doctor’s office or emergency room. The specially trained nurses also can identify situations that are too serious to handle at home and may require emergency medical attention.
In recognition of National Poison Prevention Week 2005, being celebrated this year between March 20-26, the Nebraska Regional Poison Center wants to remind people living in Nebraska and Wyoming about the benefits – both medical and financial – of calling the poison center first when you suspect someone has been exposed to a poison.
Realizing that someone has been exposed to a poison is scary, but it doesn’t always mean that person’s life is in danger or that they need to see a doctor right away, said registered nurse Joan McVoy.
For example, parents often panic when they believe a child has ingested bleach. The product label makes it appear as though one swallow of bleach is deadly and they will call 911 or rush them to the emergency room. But in reality, ingesting small amounts of bleach will usually only irritate the digestive system. In many cases, poison center staff will give home treatment advice and instruct parents to watch the child at home.
“In general, about 75 percent of poisoning exposure calls that we receive are treated safely at home,” McVoy said. “That means when a person calls the poison center, they are often saving money by not going to an emergency room or physician’s office.”
In fact, in 2004 alone, the Nebraska Regional Poison Center estimated that its services saved patients about $6.3 million in healthcare costs.
In the early 1960s, when National Poison Prevention Week started, more than 450 kids died each year because of accidental poisonings. Now, that number is down to less than 30.
Still, at least one million times a year, children in the Unites States under the age of five are accidentally poisoned. Last year alone, the Nebraska Regional Poison Center logged 36,425 calls regarding accidental poisonings. That’s nearly 2,000 more calls than the previous year.
Because poisonings often happen while adults are distracted, experts emphasize three strategies to reduce deaths and injuries from poisonings:
- Keep medicines and household chemicals locked up, out of reach and out of sight of young children at all times.
- Use child-resistant packaging because it saves lives. But remember that child-resistant doesn’t mean childproof.
- Call a poison center to get immediate treatment advice for poison emergencies.
The Nebraska Regional Poison Center offers tips on poison prevention as a free community service. For more information, contact the Nebraska Regional Poison Center by calling (402) 955-5555 in the Omaha metropolitan area or toll-free at 1-800-222-1222.
The Nebraska Regional Poison Center is sponsored by The Nebraska Medical Center, Creighton University Medical Center, and University of Nebraska Medical Center.