Fact Friday: Poison Control helps more than 40,000 people a year!

The poison center helps more than 40,000 poison victims a year. (Including my 4 year old son last night--spraying Lysol in his eyes) Quick action could save a life.  About half of poisoning emergencies involve small children, but also provide immediate life-saving information for suicide attempts, medication errors, chemical spills, occupational exposures, product misuse, drug interactions and pet poisonings.  About 67% of Poison Center callers are treated at home...safely.  That saves the region's residents over $18 million/year in unnecessary health care costs. Reported poisonings are monitored for new or unusually dangerous hazards.  When we identify a problem, we urge manufacturers and government regulators to change the formulation, improve the closure or even ban the product.

ACT FAST  - if you think someone has been poisoned!

• If you find your 2-year-old with an open bottle of medicine
• If your spouse mixes household cleaners and can't stop coughing
• If your teenager overdoses
• If that liquid in the glass wasn't soda

• If you think someone has been poisoned....
Call 1-800-222-1222 right away!

Personal Experience:
Last night my four year old thought he would "spray" Lysol to make our house clean and instead it went straight into his eyes. I did many thing wrong from the start. First, I put my guard down since my children are older. I still have all my cleaning supplies locked up but this was sitting in plain sight in my kitchen. Second, I assumed that he was old enough to not use it after repeated warnings but lets be honest, he was a curious boy! Finally, I assumed it can't happen to me. My son is fine and I flushed it immediately like the bottle said and then called Poison Control. I have to admit I have called them several times, in my 11 years of parenting, and every time I am SO impressed with the calm, educated person on the other line giving me the EXACT information that I need to help my child.  Be sure to have what ever "poison" with you when you call--but once again I was humbled by the fact that we have such an amazing resource. So please use my personal experience as a Reminder!  At the end of my call she suggested me to follow up with my pediatrician or to call back if I had any other questions.

 Willow Creek is always here to answer any questions you may have and we will refer you to Poison Control if necessary. We at Willow Creek Pediatrics are very grateful for a wonderful service like this! Please pick up a magnet or sticker for your home so you have this number at hand. We have stacks at the office and would love to give them to you! Also, there is a APP for your smart phones and also click on this link for more information
 http://www.poison.org/home.asp or http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/PoisoningPrevention/Children.aspx
**info from Poison.org and Poison Prevention