Poison Prevention Education Partnership
The University of Tennessee (UT) Extension and the Tennessee Poison Center have partnered to save lives across Tennessee. This unique partnership is helping to extend and expand the center’s poison prevention education programs to residents in every county in the state. The UT Extension’s educational program, Be Poison Safe Tennessee, is an integral part of the effort. This is the only partnership between Extension and a poison center in the country. A network of county UT Extension educators is spreading the message of poison prevention throughout Tennessee.
This unique partnership won the 2005 Frist Foundation Award of Achievement for Team-Building. This award is bestowed on organizations and teams that produce outstanding results while fulfilling their mission in cost–effective ways. Sixty non-profit organizations applied for the award, with three nominated.
Program Impacts
Through the combined efforts of seventy-seven UT Extension educators and the health educators of the Tennessee Poison Center, the center experienced an increase in the number of educational programs in the state from 401 to 1,003. Program attendance increased from 35,687 in 30 counties to 448,845 in all 95 counties. Literature distribution grew from 112,817 pieces in 2003 to 642,084 pieces in 2004. The Poison Help hotline also saw a dramatic 64% increase in calls in 85 of the 95 counties, due to promoting the hotline through educational programs and literature distribution.
The American Association of Poison Control Centers states that a certified poison control center should receive 7 calls per 1,000 persons per county and is referred to as call penetrance. This number tells the poison center that residents are aware of the center’s services and are calling the center when they have a poison emergency or question. As a result of the Be Poison Safe Tennessee Program, call penetrance has increased to 9 calls or greater (with a variance from 9 to 36 calls per county) in 87 out of 95 counties. This increase in call penetrance is attributed to the outreach efforts of the UT Extension educators. The impact of the partnership has been greater than expected, enabling the Tennessee Poison Center to save lives in all 95 counties.
Tennessee Poison Center's Web site:
Be Poison Safe Tennessee! Program Web Page
For More Information on Poisons
To learn more about poisons, visit the FCS Health & Safety - Poison Prevention page for great Web site links.
For More Information about This Partnership Contact:
| Barbara (Bobbi) P. Clarke, PhD, RD Professor & Extension Health Specialist, Co-Director UT Center for Community Health Literacy University of Tennessee Extension Family & Consumer Sciences 119 Morgan Hall Knoxville, TN 37996-4501 Telephone: (865) 974-8197 Fax: (865) 974-5370 E-mail: bclarke@utk.edu |
Josephine Darwin Director, Community Outreach Tennessee Poison Center 501 Oxford House 1161 21st Avenue South Nashville, TN 37232-4632 Phone: (615) 936-0760 Fax: (615) 936-0756 E-mail: josephine.darwin@vanderbilt.edu |
For more information about the UT Extension Health & Safety programs, please contact your local County Extension FCS Agent .