Local Funds Save Poison Control Hotline

When your child accidentally swallows a household cleaner, who can you call for medical advice? Access to a poison control hotline equipped to handle calls like this was threatened last year when Saint Elizabeth Health Center closed the Mahoning Valley Poison Control Center due to budget cuts. As the closure date approached, emergency services officials expressed fears about the impact on hospital emergency rooms and emergency services. "It's not only some little girl swallowing Drano, it's accident spills on 680 and our guys exposed to hazardous chemicals at fire scenes," Youngstown assistant fire chief Joseph Durkin told The Vindicator.

Poison control centers with specially trained doctors and nurses can handle about 75 percent of poisonings over the telephone, but not all communities have access to a local or toll-free hotline. "Disruptions in poison control services increase the number of visits to hospital emergency rooms, which someone has to pay for," said Rose Ann Soloway, administrator of the American Association of Poison Control Centers.

Shortly before the Saint Elizabeth center's closure, Mahoning County health commissioner Matthew Stefanak arranged for a state grant to bring toll free access to the Cincinnati Drug and Poison Information Center for residents of Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, and Ashtabula Counties. By January 1996, the Board of Health had received pledges of $65,500 from six hospitals and other organizations in the region to continue the service through the end of the year. State health officials are expected to create a statewide poison control hotline by July 1997.

While poisoning deaths have continued their decline, the number of poisonings remains high, especially among young children and older adults. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that poisoning risks and the severity of poisoning at home can be reduced by having immediate access to the poison control telephone number and syrup of ipecac to induce vomiting of swallowed poisons. According to a 1996 Board of Health survey, about one half of homes in Mahoning County have the poison control number posted near the telephone.

Calls Received in 1996*
	2,428		Mahoning County
	1,613		Trumbull County
	477		Columbiana County
	359		Ashtabula County
*through November

Calls to the Cincinnati Drug & Poison Information Center from the Region 80 percent of poisoning calls were managed over the telephone 60 percent of poisonings were in children 7 percent of calls were from hospital emergency rooms