Make Your Home Poison Proof

              SHREVEPORT JOURNAL Tuesday PM Your Health SHREVEPORT-BOSSIER CITY, LA.,
Make your home
poison proof
By BETH SMITH
Journal Medical Writer
Sue Jones brought some of her 2-year-old
daughter's toys to the dining room and
settled her down to play so she could keep
an eye, on the child while she ran the
voicuurh in the adjacent living room. She
looked in on her often as she worked.
Several minutes had passed since her last
check, and Sue was preparing to turn off
the vacuum and go into the dining room
when she heard a painful cry. "Hot, Mom-my;
hot,'' the little girl sobbed. Sue rushed
iwto.her and found the toddler rubbing her
mouth. Beside her was a leaf from the
large Dieffenbachia (dumb cane) plant
that sat on the floor by the dining room
window.
It was a warm spring day, and 4-year-
Qld-Johnny was delighted to get to play
outdoors on his swing set. The back yard
was fenced, and Johnny couldn't reach the
latch on the gate, so his mother wasn't
worried about him being alo^e, though she
did check on him from time to time.
Suddenly, she heard him scream and ran
out to find that Johnny had discovered a
bottle of pesticide that had accidentally
been left on a window ledge. He had
swallowed some of the liquid, and part of
itnad spilled on his bare legs.
* * *
These two incidents are fictitious, but they
are representative of the 2,497 calls concern-ing
children under 5 years of age received
during 1981 by the LSU Medical Center
Poison Control Center in Shreveport. Maurice
A. Hawley III, poison information pharma-cist,
said this represented 47 percent of the
calls processed by the center last year.
Theme for the current observation of Na-tional
Poison Prevention Week (March 21-28)
is "Children Act Fast... So Do Poisons." Pa-rents
are reminded that spring cleaning time
is a good time to clean closets and cabinets
where potentially poisonous substances are
stored. Medicines, cleaners, solvents and
pesticides, for example, should be disposed of
if no longer useful, or they should be securely
sealed and stored where children cannot
reach them.
Hawley suggested the following good house-keeping
rules for avoiding accidental poison-ings
among children:
• Store internal medicines separately from
household products.
• Avoid taking medicines in front of chil-dren;
they imitate grown-ups.
• Never refer to medicine as "candy."
• When household substances are in use,
never let them out of an adult's sight.
• Keep poisonous substances in their ori-ginal
containers with labels attached; never
transfer them to cups or soft drink bottles.
• Keep all products properly labeled and
read labels before using.
• Always keep the light on when giving or
taking medicines. [
The Poison Control Center also urges that
parents of young children keep at least one
ounce of Syrup of Ipecac, which induces
vomiting, in the house, but cautions that it
should never be given without instruction and
should be kept out of the reach of children.
The syrup is available at local drug stores and
costs about $1.20 plus tax for one ounce.
Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the
Poison Control Center maintains a Poisondex
system, with some 200,000 products and
plants recorded on microfilm. Hawley said
the center can provide information in five to
10 minutes on what is in a product, its toxicity,
symptoms to watch for and how to treat them.
Some situations can be handled at home, but
some require emergency room treatment or
evaluation by a physician, Hawley said.
The information is compiled by a group of
board certified toxicologists and comes from
the Rocky Mountain Poison Control Center in
Denver, Colo. Information is updated every
quarter.
Hawley said the local center, which has
been in operation since March 1977, averages
10 to 15 calls a day. A total of 5,880 calls were
received in 1981; the largest percentage of
calls concerned the ingestion of (1) prescrip-tion
drugs, (2) over-the-counter drugs and (3)
household products.
The center is supported by grants from the
Department of Health & Human Resources,
Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse
and the United Way Fund.
Clip and post the first-aid chart shown,
or order one by sending a stamped, self-addressed
envelope to Poisoning First Aid
Chart, Poison Control Center, LSUMC-S, P.O.
Box 33932, Shreveport 71130.
• • *
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Com-mission
has compiled a Poison Lookout
Checklist, which should be completed by an
adult. A "yes" answer to all the questions
means a home is poison-proofed. Any "no"
answers should be corrected immediately.
Kitchen
• Do all harmful products in cabinets have
child-resistant caps? Products such as
furniture polishes, drain cleaners and some
oven cleaners should have safety packaging to
keep little children from accidentally opening
the packages.
• Are all potentially harmful products in
their original containers? If not, there are two
dangers: Labels on the original containers
often give first aid information if someone
should swallow the product. And, if stored in
containers such as drinking glasses or pop
bottles, someone may think it is food and
swallow it.
• Are harmful products stored away from
food? If not, someone may accidentally get a
food or a poison mixed up and swallow the
poison.
• Have all potentially harmful products
been put up high, out of the reach of children?
Make sure it is impossible for children to find
and get at poisons. Locking all cabinets is the
best poison prevention.
Bathroom
• Did you ever stop to think that medicines
could poison if improperly used? Many chil-dren
are poisoned each year by overdoses of
aspirin. Just think how many other poisons
might be in the medicine cabinet.
• Do aspirins and other potentially harmful
products have child-resistant closures?
• Have you thrown out all out-of-date
prescriptions? As medicines get older, the
chemicals inside them can change and once-good
medicine can become a dangerous
poison: Flush old drugs down the toilet, rinse
the container and discard.
• Do you only give medicine to the person
for whom the doctor prescribed it?
• Are all medicines in their original con-tainers
with original labels? Without the ori-ginal
label, you can't be sure of what you're
taking.
Garage or Storage Area
• Did you know that almost everything in
your garage or storage area that can be
swallowed is a terrible poison? Horrible reac-tions
occur when everyday substances such as
charcoal lighter, paint thinner and remover,
antifreeze and turpentine are swallowed.
• Do all these poisons have child-resistant
caps?
• Are they stored in the original con-tainers?
• Are the original labels on the containers?
• Have you made sure that no poisons are
stored in drinking glasses or pop bottles?
• Are all these harmful products locked up
and out of sight and reach?
SIOP'S POISON FIRST AID CHART
This publication is made available by the E.M.S. Foundation Inc.. as a public service for the citizens of Northwest Louisiana.
If a poisoning occurs, follow these steps:
1. CALL A PHYSICIAN OR POISON CENTER IMMEDIATELY!
2. Administer first aid treatment as listed below.
3. Do not force liquid or induce vomiting if the patient is unconscious or convulsing.
4. Keep the poison container. Bring it with you if the patient is to be treated
REMEMBER: Speed is extremely importanf in treatment of accidental poisonings.
COSMETICS
— Give water
— Induce vomiting
if recommended by
Poison Control
Center*
PLANTS
— Give water
— Induce vomiting if
recommended by Poison
Control Center*
MEDICINES
—Give Water
— Induce vomiting if
recommended by
Poison Control
Center*
INSECT AND RAT
POISONS
— Give water
— Induce vomiting if ,
recommended by Poison
Control Center
HOUSEHOLD CLEANING,
POLISHING, AND
PAINTING AGENTS
—Give water or milk
— DO NOT induce
vomiting
ACIDS AND ALKALI
— Give water or
milk
— DO NOT induce
vomiting
FOOD POISONING
— Give water
— Induce vomiting if
recommended by Poison
Control Center*
GASOLINE AND
PETROLEUM
PRODUCTS
— Give water or milk
— DO NOT induce vomiting
on your own, call Poison
Control Center for
instructions
POISONS IN THE EYE — Flood affected eye with gentle stream of water. ,
POISONS ON THE SKIN — Remove affected clothing, flood involved body parts with water then wash
using bland soap. When dealing with insecticides, strong acids, or alkalis (bases) use protective rubber gloves.
POISONS INHALED — Move person to ventilated area. Resuscitate (mouth to mouth) if not breathing.
Keep Ipecac Syrup on hand to induce vomiting.
Follow physician or label instructions for use.
PHYSICIAN.
PEDIATRICIAN.
EMERGENCY TELEPHONE NUMBERS
PHARMACIST
FIRE
r 1980 By Happy. Normal. It
SIOP and SIOP symbol are Trademarks of HAPPY, Normal, III
POISON CONTROL CENTER
AMBULANCE
318/425-1524 HOSPITAL
POLICE
MARCH 23, 1982 B
318 / 425-1524
LSUMC-S POISON CENTER