Thursday, November 21, 2024
11/21/2024
Nationally, someone calls a poison center every 8 seconds, needing help with a poisoning. Poison Centers are a primary resource for residents and healthcare professionals in Arizona, and throughout the nation. Studies show that poison centers help decrease patient morbidity and mortality from poisonings and help decrease health care costs. Nationally poison related deaths have been on the rise and in Arizona accidental poisoning mortality rates have increased. Banner Poison and Drug Information Center (BPDIC) has been serving all of Maricopa County, AZ for 45 years and provides free 24-hour management for poison and drug exposures to the public and to healthcare providers. Community outreach and education is vital to increase utilization of Poison Center services and decrease preventable poisonings. Demand for Poison Center services has not kept pace with population growth in Arizona. BPDIC has noted a decrease in the number of individuals with a poisoning exposure being managed on site and have noted an increase in the number of individuals going into a healthcare facility unnecessarily. 2022 Community Health Needs Assessments (CHNA) and related implementation strategies echo the need for community-wide services provided by BPDIC. As part of the CHNA, each hospital in the area is required to collect input from individuals in the community, including public health experts as well as residents, representatives, or leaders of low-income, minority, and medically underserved populations. Across the many CHNA’s conducted by Banner Health and the communities it serves, behavioral health was found to be a significant health need and priority. Specifically, within behavioral health, the needs are described as access to mental health resources, mental health care for those affected by COVID and related experiences, and substance and alcohol abuse and misuse prevention. Mental health issues and alcohol/substance abuse were two of the top three health iss ues identified by Maricopa County community survey participants at 28% and 29% respectively (Maricopa County Community Survey, 2021). In addition, from 2019 to 2020 Maricopa County saw an increase in the rate of drug related overdoses and opioid related overdoses (Arizona Department of Health Services, 2020). Major goals and objectives include ensuring continued delivery of Poison Center services; Preventing an increase in non-fatal poisonings by providing poison and drug information to the community; Preventing poisoning deaths by increased utilization of the poison center while maintaining accreditation standards; improving data quality related to national toxic exposure surveillance through the National Poison Data System (NPDS). BPDIC is designated by the State of Arizona to serve all of Maricopa County, which is the fourth largest county in the United States and is the nation’s fasted growing county. Arizona is one of the fastest growing and most diverse states in the nation (8th in the nation for overall population growth from 2010-2020 at 11.9% growth). Arizona is expected to experience additional growth of at least 30% by 2055. HRSA funding will be used for Specialists in Poison Information (SPI), Clinical Educator, Directors and Poison Informatics Coordinator to carry out project objectives. Increased outreach and education will be offered to the public and healthcare providers. Providing education on poison center services to healthcare providers and to the community will help achieve a decrease in the number of poison related deaths and non-fatal poisonings.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
