The Southeast Utah Health Department celebrates National Poison Prevention Week on March 17 through March 23. This is a campaign that focuses on the danger of drugs and other poisons and how to keep the family safe. Castle Country Radio was able to sit down with Health Educator, Paige Haeck to get some details about National Poison Prevention Week.

It’s hard to get accurate stats for poison control because some times its lumped into other categories. “Yes, they are lumped into like overdoses or our suicides a lot of the time, so its hard-to-get exact stats but we just want to make sure that everybody’s thinking about it and it’s on everybody’s mind,” stated Haeck. You can celebrate National Poison Prevention Week by educating yourself, do some spring cleaning getting rid of outdated items and invite friends to participate too.

The health department plans to display various tips and tricks regarding poison prevention on their Facebook page. “We’ll probably focusing a lot because it’s becoming Spring so we want people to be aware of when we are outside hiking or just even out in our backyard, that we are paying attention to what’s around us, paying attention to our surroundings, what our kids are putting in their mouths on accident or things like that you just never know,” explained Haeck. If you don’t know much about poison prevention and would like to learn more, visit the Poison Control website.

If you do encounter a poisoning you are urged to contact Poison Control immediately. “We just want to remind people that there is a hotline that you can call. It’s
1-800-222-1222 and that’s the Poison Helpline and they’ll be able to help you get resources or contact authorities if something does happen,” said Haeck. Again, be sure to like the Southeast Utah Health Department Facebook page so that you can see the tips and tricks shared during National Poison Prevention Week. The health department has several pamphlets and magnets about Poison Control so feel free to stop by for some free swag.