March 21, 2025
This week is National Poison Prevention Week! It was established in 1961 by Congress to promote poison prevention awareness. Here are some fast facts about the Tennessee Poison Center:
- The Tennessee Poison Center is the only poison control center in the state of Tennessee and serves 7.13 million Tennesseans in all 95 counties.
- In 2024, we answered 51,858 calls on the Poison Help Hotline.
- We are one of the most important rapid response teams and are the only organization in Tennessee providing 24/7 surveillance for biochemical terrorism and monitoring for viral, chemical, and biological threats.
- We provide a toll-free multilingual 24/7 Poison Help Hotline in more than 150 languages.
- In 2023, the largest age group accounting for 47% of poison exposures were under the age of 5, but anyone can be poisoned at any age. In fact, 9 in 10 deaths are adult poison exposures.
- The Tennessee Poison Center saved Tennessee taxpayers an estimated 21.4 million dollars in unnecessary emergency visits in 2023.
- We advise everyone to save the toll-free Poison Help Hotline number in their phone, place a magnet on the fridge, and stickers near or on your phone. We recommend posting the Poison Help number, 1-800-222-1222, anywhere you might need it in case of an emergency or for an information call about drugs or toxins.
- When a poisoning happens, Poison Centers are ready 24/7/365 with fast, free treatment advice by calling Poison Help (1-800-222-1222). Whether it is a question or an emergency, Poison Help can provide life-saving information when people need it the most. The Tennessee Poison Center is staffed by medically trained poison specialists and is supported by 3 board-certified medical toxicologists.
- Anything can be poisonous if used in the wrong way, in the wrong amount, by the wrong person. Poisonings happen every day to people of all ages. Exposures can happen anywhere, including at home, at work, at school, at the grocery store, and at a sports game. The Tennessee Poison Center is available to help any person, emergency response team, and healthcare professional. We provide free professional and public education resources.
- This year National Poison Prevention Week (NPPW) is March 16-22, 2025. NPPW is a week dedicated to raising awareness about poison control centers and the Poison Help Hotline (1-800-222-1222). We encourage you to join us in educating the public on the valuable services we provide to keep our state and the ones we love safe.
Question prepared by Sophie Raffo, Tennessee Poison Center’s Coordinator of Community Outreach.
Sophie Raffo joined us in May 2024 and has hit the ground running expanding our community outreach. We are thrilled she has joined out team!
Rebecca Bruccoleri, MD
Medical Director
Tennessee Poison Center
If you would like to be added to the Question of the Week distribution list, please email Quynh-Thu Musick, PharmD, CSPI at q.musick@vumc.org