Education Page

Fast Facts About Poisons

Community Education

What to do in a Poison Emergency

Lectures for Health Care Providers

Information for the Hearing Impaired

Information for Migrant Workers

Fast Facts About Poisons
* Yearly, nearly two million poison exposures are reported to     Poison Centers in the United States.
* Cleaning substances, medications, cosmetics, and personal care
    products cause the most accidental exposures.
* 89% of poison exposures happen in the home.
* 77% of all poison exposures can be treated at the site of their
    occurrence with phone assistance from the Poison Center.

Community Education
Poison Prevention educational materials include posters, brochures, videos, teacher guides, coloring books and various informational hand-outs.

Poison Prevention educational presentations are available for any community or educational group. Contact the administrative office at the Poison Control Center at 585-273-4155 to arrange for a presentations or to request materials. Or contact us via e-mail at:
poison_center@urmc.rochester.edu.

There is no charge for any of the services of the Poison Center.

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What to do in a Poison Emergency
1. Stay calm!
2. Call the Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222 immediately.
     We will tell you very quickly if you need an ambulance.
3. Take the product with you to the phone. Be ready to tell us:
     a) The age and weight of the patient
     b) Name and strength of the product
     c) Amount involved
     d) Approximate time since the exposure happened
     e) The signs and symptoms the patient may be experiencing
4. Follow the Poison Center's directions carefully.

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Information for Health Care Providers
Two medical toxicologists as well as nurse specialists and pharmacy specialists in poisoning are available.

Sample topicss:
1.    Snakebite
2.    Cardiac medications
3.    Anticholinergic poisoning
4.    Toxic alcohols
5.    Analgesics
6.    Chemical and bioterrorism and disaster preparedness
7.    Bites and stings
8.    Heavy metals
9.    Gases
10. Carbon monoxide
11. Selected examples of industrial poisonings
12. Plants
13. Chelation therapy
14. Drugs of abuse
15. Pesticides
16. How to use a poison center effectively!

Any other requests can be accommodated. Call us at 585-273-4156. We can do in person or via videoconference, if you have videoconferencing equipment.

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Information for the Hearing Impaired

Emergency TTY: 585-273-3854.

A special page is in development which will include some sign language videos on poisoning.

Information on accessing the poison center via TTY is also included.

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Information for Migrant Workers

Interpreters are available.

Special programs and brochures in Spanish are available for service agencies and for healthcare agencies helping migrant workers.

If you or your staff want training in poison prevention or specific topics of concern to migrant workers, please contact us at 585-273-4155.

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