HOSPITAL j
DUKE
VOL. 7, NO. 1 OCTOBER, I960 DURHAM, N. C.
POISON
The little misM iii tlii.s iiicture (proparod liy Uoli lUake foi- a Poison Control c.xhibit that
lias been shown around tliu world) is having loa. Aftor lun- doll linislics that sip, sho’ll
havo a sip, too. We hope it is .just water, and not kerosene or another of the quarter
of a million diingerous household substances we all have around the house at some time
or other. Why not check .vour home tonight?
Saved—.
A Life a Day
This is the enviable record we can
attribute to a program hero at Duke
Hospital that is little known to most
of the hosjiital family, yet it is one
of the most dramatic services to the
largest number of people that Duke
offers.
The i)rogram is the Poison Control
Center and the man behind its in
ception and its brilliant record is Dr.
Jay M. Arena, Professor of Pedi
atrics. Back in 1952 the American
Medical Association’s Committee on
Toxicology (of which Dr. Arena was
an eirthusiastic member), canvassed
private doctors across the nation and
confirmed their worst iiii])ressions
concerning the alarming rise in the
deaths by accidental poisoning, esj)eci-
allj" in small children. They decided
to try to do something about this
distressing situation that they felt
eould be cheeked, if someone ju.st took
the trouble to try. Within months of
that eomnuttee’s report a pilot con
trol center was working in Chicago
and a year later the first full-fledged
l)oison control center in the country
was set up at Duke Hospital by Dr.
Arena.
What was causing these 1')()() chil
dren to die each year of j)oisoning?
The answer, unfortuiuitely, says Dr.
Arena is cai'clessness—careh'ssuess
combined with ignorance on the part
of parents, doctors and manufacturers
alike. The ))roblem is a result of the
fantastic increase over the ]>ast fifteen
years of powerful new drugs aiul the
250,()()() new, labor-saving household
])roducts now on the market that are
l)oteutially dangerous to children.
For lack of strict laws, most of these
detergents, insecticides, deodorants,
and the like are not juarked as to
dangerous content. This nuikes it
difYicidt for parents to know what to
be careful of—even if wc are suf
ficiently w'ary, which most of us arc
not. It also makes an impossible situa
tion for the uu).st conscientious doctor
1() kee]) abreast of new i)roduets and
their content. The biggest single
boost in j)oisouing in children was the
introduction of candy-flavored as])i-
rin. Since the aspirin has Ix'eu made
more palatable and ])arents have made
the mistake of calling it candy, in
cidents of overdoses of asi)irin now ac
count for over 20 i>er cent of all
child poisoning.
Th(> solution of this tragic i)i-ol)lem
has been of vital importance to Dr.
Arena and as a result, Duke’s (’ontrol
Center becanui a model, grew I'apidly
and enjoys a real record of vital serv
ice to hundreds of victims from all
over the United States ('vcM-y year.
Now there arc centers in 48 states and
4 territories, but almost daily emer
gency cidls comi' from local doctors
all over the southeast (and recently
one from Montaiui) for ipiick iufor-
(Contiuu('d on page 2)