Thursday, May 1, 2025
5/1/2025
Poison Control Stabilization and Enhancement Program - Project Abstract PROBLEM: Poison centers nationwide struggle with funding issues and the North Texas Poison Center (NTPC) is not immune to this struggle. Without federal support, the NTPC would fail to accomplish its mission of providing the citizens of North Texas with accessible, current, and concise poison information, treatment recommendations, and prevention programs as a 24-hour day, 365 days a year service. The NTPC has been designated by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) to serve the 8.7 million residents of North Texas. According to the Department of State Health Services, “Health Facts Profile” for Regions 3 & 4, the highest population of individuals ages 15-44 at 42.1% (3,594,788). The percentage of individuals under the age of five is 6.9% (593,441), a common age for accidental exposures in the home. Finally, 8.7% (985,143) of residents are over age 65, an age group at risk for prescription and over-the-counter medication poisoning. The types of calls to the NTPC have changed over the years. Information calls are decreasing; however, the acuity of human exposure calls is on the rise. This results in a higher need for critical thinking and increased time spent on each call. To reach all 8.7 million people, the NTPC education program would need to contact over 23,000 people a day. This is impossible with the current funding and resources available. Our program expenses continue to increase with cost of living and inflation. PROPOSED SERVICES: The goals of the NTPC are to provide high-quality poison prevention education to the public, to provide high-quality treatment recommendations for poisoning, and to collect data related to poisonings that can be used to inform public health and emergency preparedness responses, all while continuing to meet the requirements set by the America’s Poison Centers (APC) accreditation criteria. Some of the objectives that will be used to achieve these goals are: 1) Stabilize the specialist FTEs for the call volume from the region 2) Develop and expand on the educational resources available to the specialists. 3) Grow and stabilize the overall percentage of NTPC-certified specialists 4) Provide poison center outreach and education via geofencing marketing and social media 5) Provide public education programs at schools, churches, businesses, and other community organizations 6) Follow NPDS coding manual to ensure the collection of high-quality data related to all calls. 7) Participate in the NPDS surveillance program and upload all cases to NPDS system regularly 8) Provide toxicology education to our EMS and First Responder colleagues 9) Collaborate with the state health department on public health emergency response via data sharing and proper coding of public health emergencies.
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).