Any chemical can be poisonous, depending upon how much is eaten, inhaled, injected or absorbed. That means many items in our own homes\u2014including cleaning products, pesticides and cosmetics\u2014have the potential to harm us.<\/p>\n
Poisoning is the leading cause of death by injury in the United States, killing more than 52,000 people per year\u2014surpassing motor vehicle-related deaths, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Since 1962, the third week of March has been recognized as National Poison Prevention Week to raise awareness of the dangers of unintentional poisoning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s an opportunity to teach the public what they really need to know about keeping themselves and keeping their kids safe,\u201d said Spencer Greene, M.D., director of medical toxicology and assistant professor of emergency medicine and pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine. \u201cWe are in a time where there is a lot of misinformation out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greene is the only board-certified medical toxicologist in the city of Houston. He regularly serves Ben Taub Hospital and Texas Children\u2019s Hospital, and responds to calls from many other hospitals in the area. In addition, he is a consulting toxicologist for the Southeast Texas Poison Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cPoison centers exist to save lives and to save money,\u201d Greene said. \u201cGod forbid, there is an exposure\u2014if there are any life-threatening emergencies, call 911, but if it is not, you should call the poison center. The phones are answered by specialists in poison information\u2014 typically nurses and pharmacists. They can field these phone calls to tell you what is dangerous and what is not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Established in 1959, theSoutheast Texas Poison Center (SETPC), housed at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, was the first poison center in the state. Today, there\u00a0are six poison centers across Texas, but calls from Houston are directed to SETPC.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe get calls for overdoses, suicides, doubling up on medications, drinking or ingesting an unknown substance,\u201d said Jean Cleary, PharmD, director of the center. \u201cMost of the cases we see are accidental poisonings with kids. Our best customers are under the age of two. … The majority of our calls are for kids eating household cleaning products.\u201d<\/p>\n
To avoid exposing children to dangerous substances, Greene recommends thinking like a kid.<\/p>\n
\u201cGet on the floor,\u201d Greene said. \u201cWhat is accessible and attractive to a kid? If you open up the lower cabinets … are there cleaning agents or pesticides that may be enticing to a child?\u201d<\/p>\n
Other common accidents involve ingesting mystery fluids from mislabeled or unlabeled containers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlways, always, always keep things in the original packaging,\u201d Greene said. \u201cAbout once a week I get a call about someone drinking a cleaning agent out of a Gatorade bottle to make it more portable. Do you know what happens when you put cleaning products in a Gatorade bottle? Someone will think it is okay to drink.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cleary said that active listening is key when taking a call at the center.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been here for 30 years and you never really get used to it,\u201d she said. \u201cYou need to know what kind of questions to ask and how to ask those questions and you need to be an extremely good listener. What they are telling you and what they are really saying may not be the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once Cleary and her team of 12 at the call center have accurately identified what a caller has ingested, they can offer help.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the exception of severe overdoses and highly toxic exposures\u2014those are sent to theemergency room\u2014we can answer callers\u2019 questions immediately, give general first aid,\u201d Cleary said. \u201cAbout 90 percent of cases just require drinking fluid and monitoring for symptoms.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greene helps the center with particularly difficult cases, including snake bites.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou learn by doing this how to ask the right questions so you can get an idea of what is going on without actually seeing the patient\u2014 what they smell, feel and hear,\u201d Greene said.<\/p>\n
For patients who need to be seen in person, a variety of treatment options are available depending on the toxin to which they have been exposed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe generally do blood tests on patients unless we know what they took and we know that it is not toxic. On rare occasions, we give patients charcoal,\u201d Greene said.<\/p>\n
Activated charcoal, an emergency decontaminant, helps absorb toxins in the gastrointestinal tract.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not pump stomachs anymore,\u201d Greene added. \u201cWe have known since the late \u201980s that it doesn\u2019t work and that it is harmful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greene and Cleary urge people who believe they have been exposed to toxins to call the poison center.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople need to know to call the poison center when there is an exposure that is not an immediate life threat,\u201d Greene said. \u201cA lot of times the patient will be able to stay home\u2014the call center can do things to help the patient and we can prevent them from doing things that are more harmful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Southeast Texas Poison Center<\/strong> Any chemical can be poisonous, depending upon how much is eaten, inhaled, injected or absorbed. That means many items in our own homes\u2014including cleaning products, pesticides and cosmetics\u2014have the potential to harm us. Poisoning is the leading cause of death by injury in the United States, killing more than 52,000 people per year\u2014surpassing motor vehicle-related […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":11307,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2497,2498,2368],"yoast_head":"\n
\nThe toll-free number for the call center, which is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is 800-222-1222.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"