NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Most anything can be poisonous if consumed in the wrong way or by the wrong person or in the wrong amount.
According to the Tennessee Poison Center (TPC), the list of poisons grows all the time.
Last week was National Poison Prevention Week. In the video player above see NewsChannel5's Hannah McDonald tour of the only control center in the state.
The TPC is housed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Every day, the center takes calls from parents, providers, and professionals after someone's handled hazardous materials. TPC’s help hotline is 1-800-222-1222. It is staffed by nurses, pharmacists, physicians, and board-certified medical toxicologists who are specially trained to assist callers.
Last year, 52,123 calls were answered. Almost half or 47% of the calls involved children ages 5 and younger.
The medical director said you don't have to wait for an exposure to make a call.
"We take drug information calls," Dr. Rebecca Bruccoleri said. "There doesn't have to be an exposure. If you want info on a drug, you're worried something will happen, just call us."
The director of the center said when in doubt, put questionable items up high and lock them up.
In 2023, 68% of the callers got the help they needed during the phone call and did not require a hospital visit. That saved taxpayers an estimated $21.4M in unnecessary emergency department visits.
It only takes a couple of questions for the hotline experts to know what to recommend.
"There's a one-pill can-kill list in the medical world. So those are medications you have to be really careful with like diabetes medications, hypertension medications, and if it's on that list we would recommend a child get sent to the hospital to be observed. But then there's a lot of medications that one pill won't be harmful," Dr. Bruccoleri said.
If someone is having a seizure, not responding to you, or not breathing well that's when it is more appropriate to call 911 instead.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
