CPCS-Valley Outreach

The Health Consortium, in partnership with the California Poison Control System (CPCS) is delighted to spotlight our newest program, poison prevention. Given the ethnic composition of our region, outreach to the Hispanic and Southeast Asian community is of particular interest. The California Poison Control System (CPCS) looked at the Valley’s hotline usage data and issued a call-to-action, in an effort to expand educational services to underserved communities throughout the Central Valley.

Poison exposure is the 3rd leading cause of injury and death among children 5 years of age and under in California.  Hispanic children are more than twice as likely as non-Hispanic Caucasian children to be hospitalized as a result of poisoning. Regrettably, the toll-free poison control hotline 1-800-222-1222 is underutilized by non-English speaking individuals, despite 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, continuous, simultaneous interpretation capacity in over 100 languages! Calling the hotline puts you in touch with a trained healthcare professional who will immediately assess an incident’s severity and offer fast, free, and expert medical advice for the on-site management of any poison exposure.  Pharmacists, physicians, nurses, and poison information providers answer the phone and can prevent an unnecessary trip to the emergency room.  On average, CPCS helps to avert approximately 60,000 trips to the emergency room each year. The CPCS Fresno/Madera Division is generously hosted by Children’s Hospital Central California.

In collaboration with the Health Consortium, the CPCS designed a culturally sensitive outreach project to get the word out about the free services. Community partners interested in scheduling a presentation, offering promotora training, or learning more about the wide-range of public outreach and educational programs are encouraged to contact Gloria Ponce-Rodriguez, Health Educator at (559) 446-2323. If you need to order free materials, please do not hesitate to visit CPCS’s web site at www.calpoison.org or call the health education voicemail order line at 1-800-582-3387.