ATHENS, Ohio -- About 30 children die each year from accidental poisonings. Last year, poison centers in the United States answered nearly 2.25 million emergency phone calls. More than half of those poison exposures occurred to children under the age of six and most happened at home. The Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine's Community Service Programs, the AmeriCorps program and Columbus Children's Hospital will be partnering for the eighth year at Kidfest to provide poison prevention education to area families and to distribute new poison control stickers.
"Accidental poisonings are preventable when parents and other caregivers have the information they need to poison-proof their surroundings," said Nancy Schell, supervisor of CSP.
Kidfest takes place on Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Ohio University Convocation Center on Richland Avenue. Kidfest is a fun event for children and families, and increases awareness of people, services, programs, events and projects in the area. It is hosted by Athens County Children Services.
"CSP and other area agencies work with area families and schools to arm them with this knowledge, based on the old saying, 'an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,'" said Schell.
In January, a new hotline was created by Congress to provide immediate access to the nation's 65 local poison centers through one national phone number: (800) 222-1222.
"A national survey conducted in January found that only one in 10 Americans knew the number to their local poison center," said Alan Woolf, M.D., president of the American Association of Poison Control Centers. "Whether you call this new number from home, from work, or while traveling,
expert poison center help is always only one easy phone call away."
The great majority -- 77 percent -- of these exposures are treatable over the phone, right where they happen, with advice and assistance from poison center experts. If emergency medical care is needed, poison center experts provide information on treatment to emergency medical personnel and other health-care providers. Experts are also available to answer non-emergency poison-related questions.
Since January, almost 44,000 Americans have called the new national poison center hotline. The hotline is also saving health-care dollars. Every dollar spent on a poison control center saves nearly seven dollars in otherwise unnecessary medical care. More information on poison prevention also is available at www.poisonprevention.org.
