Poison Control Centers

What would your mom or dad do if someone accidentally swallowed poison in your house? Would he or she know what to do? One way to get immediate answers is to call the poison control center in your area. Luckily, in the United States, one phone number works for all areas - 1-800-222-1222. The number is toll-free and automatically goes to the center closest to where the call is made. At the moment, there are sixty centers in this country.

Many people believe they are careful enough that they will never need to contact a poison control center. However, mistakes happen. Imagine these events:

Samuel has a two-year old brother named Jack. He was playing by himself in the living room. He got into his mother's purse and managed to open a headache medicine bottle she had in there. He had taken a couple of the pills before Samuel's mother realized it. She called the poison control center to find out what to do.