Holiday Poisoning Hazards

Wyoming's Poison Center offers a reminder that prevention is the best treatment for poisonings.

During the Holiday season, common calls to the poison center involving children include the ingestion of: cigarettes, batteries, holiday plants, snow sprays, medications, and angel hair to name a few.

Joan McVoy, a registered nurse from the Nebraska Regional Poison Center, says,

"About fifty percent of the calls we get at the Poison Center are medications. So this time of year, everybody's got some visiting relatives that are coming in town, and when they come into town, they bring their medications with them. So it's probably a good idea when they arrive to talk to them about a safe place that you can keep those up and out of reach."

McVoy advises parents to take special precaution after holiday gatherings.

"Typically, this time of year, a lot of holiday parties are going on. Always a good idea to clean up immediately after the party and not wait until the morning. Sometimes the parents will sleep in late and the kids will come down early and they'll finish off the partially filled glasses of alcohol, they'll get into the cigarette butts, it just takes a couple of cigarette butts for us to be very concerned with."

If you have any problems or questions about poisonings, just call the Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222.

"You will talk immediately to a nurse who is going to be able to help you. And we do keep over sevety-five percent of our calls at home, so we'll probably save you a trip into the emergency room."