In March, we celebrate Poison Prevention Month in Illinois. In this month’s blog we are going to sing the praises of the Illinois Poison Center (IPC). The IPC provides free poison help and resources for all Illinois resources. Did your child eat too many gummy vitamins? Bite into a glow stick? Drink a household cleaner because it was the same color as juice or sports drink? Or did you mix cleaning chemicals without realizing it? Take someone else’s medicine by mistake? The possibilities are endless. If your child or you are conscious and breathing, call the Illinois Poison Center at 800-222-1222. The IPC call center is staffed with doctors, nurses and poison specialists. All staff have special training in toxicology. The IPC is open every day, 24 hours per day and all calls are confidential. About 90% of time, they can help you treat the poison exposure at home without going to the hospital. One phone call will save you hours of waiting in a crowded emergency room. In addition to calls about potential poison exposures, the call center is there to help you with general questions about poisons.
The IPC has also created a great web resource called My Child Ate … https://www.illinoispoisoncenter.org/my-child-ate/ Just put My Child Ate and the substance – diaper rash cream, nail polish, play-doh, even poop into your search engine and the resource will come up immediately. They have information about dozens of substances that kids get into. My Child Ate lists the toxicity level, symptoms of poisoning and what to do if there was eye exposure involved. The site will also tell you when to call their help line.
As parents, we know things can happen with your children when you least expect it. That’s why it’s important to put the Illinois Poison Center’s number 1-800-222-1222 into your cell phone contacts. If it’s in your contacts, you’ll be ready to make a call if you need to.