Posted: 11/17/2014
Countless individuals aided by poison specialists
Countless individuals have been able to breathe a sigh of relief over the past three decades thanks to the assistance they received from specialists at the North Texas Poison Center housed at Parkland Memorial Hospital. To celebrate its 30 years of service to the region, staff will host an anniversary party from 1 to 3 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 20 in the Poison Center, 5201 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, 75235.
The center averages now more than 340 calls daily, a significant increase from its humble beginnings of about 30 calls a day. Nearly two-thirds are incoming calls to the Poison Center and the remaining third are follow-up calls from poison specialists to ensure the immediate concern has passed at the home or office of the caller. And while the number of calls has increased, the underlying cause has remained constant with about half related to things your mother told you not to do.
“When we started the Poison Center the majority of calls were from parents who were frantic because their child had gotten into medicine or household products they shouldn’t have,” said Lena Williams, RN, who was the Poison Center’s first director. “There have always been ‘look-alike’ medicines and candy which become an easy target for kids.”
But, Williams said, it goes back to what kids put in their mouths – and they can do it in a split second.
“Even though it’s been years, I still remember a mom who called about a Black Widow spider. We asked where her child had been bitten and to describe the area around the bite,” Williams recalled. “She told us the spider hadn’t bitten her child; her child had eaten the Black Widow. Again, you never know what a child is going to ingest.”
And the outcome?
“Everyone was fine,” Williams said, “well, except for the Black Widow.”
What has changed over the years is the type of calls the center receives. In decades past, a call could come from a farmer who dipped his cows in the wrong liquid. The solution, center staff offered, was to “wash his herd.” Or the call asking how much gopher bait could kill a cow? “On those we’d phone our Texas A&M University contacts and then relay the information back to the farmer,” Williams said.
“Today, the majority of calls we receive are related to prescription drugs and potential overdoses,” said Rachel Harvey, RN, CSPI, Manager, North Texas Poison Center.
Every day in the U.S., 114 people die as a result of drug overdose and another 6,748 are treated in emergency departments for the misuse or abuse of drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly nine out of 10 poisoning deaths are caused by drugs.
“We continue to receive calls about children who have gotten into their parents or grandparents prescription drugs,” Harvey said.
What hasn’t changed is the education provided by specialists in the center.
Today, as in years past, Poison Center staff is on the front lines dispelling myths and squelching rumors, whether it’s about chemical insecticides used in spraying for West Nile Virus, the effects of synthetic marijuana, or the Tylenol scare in the early 1980s when capsules in the Chicago-area were found to be laced with cyanide.
“Public education is one of the most important services the Poison Center provides,” Williams added. “If you can reach out to children at a young age and stress the importance of poison prevention, it’s something they’ll remember for a lifetime and they’ll pass it on to their children.”
And for others, specialists with the North Texas Poison Center are available 24/7 to answer questions from frantic moms, farmers or anyone else with a poison question by calling 1.800.222.1222. Visit the North Texas Poison Center on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NTXPC. You can also follow on Twitter @NTXPoisonCenter.