Sieda Prevention reminds you to prepare, prevent, and protect your home. National Poison Prevention Awareness Month takes place every March. It’s important because most poisonings occur at home and we often don’t think about poison prevention until something happens. The National Poison Prevention Week is held the third full week of March. This year it is March 21-27, 2021. It is a week dedicated to raising awareness of poison control centers, the Poison Help Hotline (1-800-222-1222), and poison prevention information. In Iowa in 2019, there were 25,315 human exposures. That is one case every 1246 seconds.
According to statistics:
- 43% of cases were for children aged 5 and under
- 91% of cases occurred in a residence
- 63% of cases were managed at home
- 74% of cases were a result of unintentional exposure to a substance
- 23% of cases were a result of intentional exposure to a substance
- 10.7% of cases were for prescription/non-prescription pain relievers
- 7.6% of cases were for antidepressants
- 7.1% of cases were for sedative/hypnotics/antipsychotics
- 6.4% of cases were for household cleaning substances
- 5.4% of cases were for cosmetics and personal care products
More information can be found on the American Association of Poison Control Centers, https://aapcc.org/nppw-2021 or https://www.iowapoison.org.
Sieda Behavioral Health and Treatment Services Prevention and Substance Abuse Education in Appanoose, Davis, Jefferson, Keokuk, Lucas, Mahaska, Monroe, Van Buren, Wapello, and Wayne, 641-683-6747.
