Congress established National Poison Prevention Week (NPPW) in 1961 and since then, safety advocates have engaged in poison prevention efforts each year during the designated third week of March. This provides an opportunity to highlight the danger of poisonings for people of all ages in an effort to prevent poison exposures.
Poisoning is the number one cause of unintentional injury death in the United States and in Utah. The Utah Poison Control Center (UPCC) manages over 40,000 poison exposures each year and over 50% of these occur in children less than six years of age. UPCC specialists are able to safely and effectively manage approximately 75% of poisoning exposures at home without sending the patient to a health care facility, thus saving time and money.
Poisonings can happen at any age and are preventable. Increasing education can help ensure that poisonings do not happen in the first place. Join the UPCC in promoting awareness during NPPW by ordering free poison prevention materials to share with others, giving a poison prevention lesson in your community or to your family, downloading activity sheets for kids and learning 16 tips to prevent poisonings in people of all ages. Connect with the UPCC on social media @utahpoison to learn more during #NPPW22 and throughout the year. Program the poison help number (1-800-222-1222) into your phone today. Save the number…save a life!
Author: Sherrie Pace, MS, MCHES®, Health Educator, Outreach Coordinator, Utah Poison Control Center