{"id":1281,"date":"2020-07-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/protherics2.aazzxx.com\/insights\/budget-cuts-and-poison-control-centers\/"},"modified":"2022-11-15T11:23:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T11:23:52","slug":"budget-cuts-and-poison-control-centers","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/serb.com\/nl\/insights\/budget-cuts-and-poison-control-centers\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget cuts and poison control centers"},"content":{"rendered":"

It didn\u2019t make headline news, but earlier this year poison control centers (PCCs) were fighting for their existence in states like\u00a0Georgia\u00a0<\/a>and\u00a0Kentucky<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One would think that, with calls to such centers on the rise (due largely to misinformation around treating Covid-19), these centers would be spared from state budget cuts. Yet this year, those decisions will be even more difficult than usual, seeing as the pandemic has wiped out billions in revenue \u2013 Ohio, for example,\u00a0saw\u00a0<\/a>a nearly $1 billion dollar revenue loss between February and April \u2013 leaving some states on the verge of bankruptcy and others grasping for emergency loans.<\/p>\n

The discussions surrounding these budgets tend to be (justifiably) focused on education, health care and police-related expenditures. But as states continue to make cuts, we would do well to not let one crucial area of public health go by the wayside in the very moment we need it most.<\/p>\n

We must support our nation\u2019s poison control centers.<\/p>\n

Historically underfunded \u2013 and more important than ever<\/b><\/p>\n

If states decide to slash funds to their PCCs, it wouldn\u2019t be for the first time. Our nation\u2019s poison control centers regularly have to validate their existence to\u00a0federal\u00a0<\/a>and state legislatures who seem to forget the work they do as one of our first lines of emergency medical care.<\/p>\n

This is not a passing trend: in\u00a02011<\/a>, Congress nearly cut all funding for PCCs in the U.S.; in 2009, California completely\u00a0eliminated\u00a0<\/a>the state\u2019s poison control service; and in Virginia, funding for PCCs\u00a0dwindled\u00a0<\/a>from nearly $2 million in 1998 to $500,000 in 2011-2013.<\/p>\n

Despite budgetary pressures, now is not the time to put these centers on the chopping block.\u00a0Calls to PCCs<\/a>\u00a0have been spiking as well-intentioned but misinformed Americans self-medicate, and as children, now at home full-time, ingest any number of cleaning supplies their parents left laying around in an effort to keep homes disinfected. An online\u00a0survey\u00a0<\/a>of 502 Americans released in June by the CDC found that more than a third misused disinfectants and other cleaners in an effort to prevent infection from Covid-19.<\/p>\n

Yet our nation\u2019s PCCs \u2013 and the medical toxicologists and other healthcare professionals who staff them \u2013 do more than respond to emergency calls; they\u2019re also who we rely on to inform the masses during a time rife with life-threatening misinformation,\u00a0scams<\/a>, and\u00a0hundreds\u00a0<\/a>of new e-commerce sites claiming to have virus-fighting products.<\/p>\n

Misinformation spreads on fear and panic, and while some may believe the worst is past, other states have witnessed a\u00a0surge\u00a0<\/a>in new COVID-19 cases as they reopen for business. This, in turn, may fuel more problems in need of PCCs\u2019 attention \u2013 compounding emergencies caused by opioid overdose, suicide attempts and accidental ingestion of toxic substances.<\/p>\n

Georgia<\/a>, whose legislature\u00a0proposed\u00a0<\/a>cuts to PCCs, happens to be one of those states with a surge in new cases. They would do well to follow Kentucky\u2019s\u00a0example<\/a>: there, the Governor responded to a rise in calls to its PCC by giving it more funding, not less, to create a dedicated coronavirus hotline. Calls jumped to 10 times the usual volume within the first month of the expanded program.<\/p>\n

If Georgia and others follow suit, they might find that the savings \u2013 whether it\u2019s COVID-19-related, opioid-related, snake bites, or otherwise \u2013 outweigh the costs. Decades of studies have shown that for every dollar spent on poison control, cost savings of $6 to $36<\/a>\u00a0are earned.<\/p>\n

Specialists in poison information and toxicologists staffing the poison control hotlines may not make front page news or be portrayed in movies and TV. But they\u2019ve been on the front lines of this and many other public health calamities in this country. We shouldn\u2019t abandon them in the very moment we need them the most.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It didn\u2019t make headline news, but earlier this year poison control centers (PCCs) were fighting for their existence in states like\u00a0Georgia\u00a0and\u00a0Kentucky. One would think that, with calls to such centers on the rise (due largely to misinformation around treating Covid-19), these centers would be spared from state budget cuts. Yet this year, those decisions will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1362,"template":"","subjects":[99,103],"class_list":["post-1281","insights","type-insights","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","subjects-critical-care","subjects-opinion"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBudget cuts and poison control centers - SERB Pharmaceuticals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/serb.com\/insights\/budget-cuts-and-poison-control-centers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Budget cuts and poison control centers - SERB Pharmaceuticals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It didn\u2019t make headline news, but earlier this year poison control centers (PCCs) were fighting for their existence in states like\u00a0Georgia\u00a0and\u00a0Kentucky. 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