History
We’ve been here more than 50 years….
The very first “poison center” in the US began in the 1950s and consisted of a half-time secretary located at the American Academy of Pediatrics in Chicago. She called all of the area hospitals regularly to find out what the kids in the emergency rooms had consumed. She would then contact the manufacturers to ascertain the ingredients in the product (this was not an easy task given there were no regulations with regards to ingredient lists at the time). This information was given to a panel of medical professions who added their treatment recommendations. All of this information was then typed onto index cards, one for each product, and kept on the secretary’s desk. When medical professionals called, the secretary would read the information printed on the cards.
Soon after this began, the US Surgeon General came to Chicago for a tour and was shown this new, innovative program. He thought it was such a good idea that he had the 1.000 index cards mimeographed and sent to health departments across the US, initiating the creation of poison centers in every state.
In Washington State, the first poison centers were established in 1956 when representatives of several associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, the Washing State Department of Health, and the University of Washington (UW), agreed to initiate two programs: one at the UW and the other in Spokane. Three months later, the poison center at the UW moved to Children’s Hospital in Seattle, where it could provide around-the-clock assistance. The Spokane unit opened at Deaconess Hospital and operated there for nearly 40 years.
Within several years, other programs developed so that by the late 1960s, sixteen poison centers covered the state. By the latter part of the 1970s however, economic pressure forced a number of the centers to close. An agreement was reached to limit the number of poison centers to four. During the 1980s, the four units operated in Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Seattle, Deaconess Medical Center in Spokane, Mary Bridge Children’s Medical Center in Tacoma, and Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital in Yakima.
In the early 1990s, the economic issues again threatened the operation of the poison centers. In 1993, with strong support from the state legislature and the Department of Health, the four poison centers were consolidated into a single facility serving the entire state of Washington. The new Washington Poison Center was incorporated in February 1994 and was designed to be a public-private partnership, with the legislature agreeing to fund the core operating budget through a contract with the Department of Health, with the private sector expected to provide the remainder of the funds needed to fully operate the center.
The federal government became involved in 2000 through the UW Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in two ways. First, they worked with the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) to establish 1-800-222-1222, a single toll-free number for the entire country that, when dialed, would connect the caller with the poison center covering their calling area. Second, they allocated grant monies to help financially stabilize poison centers across the nation, including WAPC.
Mr. Yuk
Mr. Yuk has been a symbol of poison prevention in Washington State since 1973 and his history is also available.
