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Family and Consumer Sciences
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Poison Prevenstion Education Partnership
Contacts:

Contact Your County Extension Office

Soghra Jarvandi, MD, PhD
Jessica Taylor, MPH​​​​​​​​​
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Family and Consumer Sciences Logo 
Poison Prevention Education Partnership
 
Poison HelpThe 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:

http://www.tnpoisoncenter.org

Be Poison Safe Tennessee! Program Web Page

Be Poison Safe Tennessee!

For More Information on Poisons

To learn more about poisons, visit the FCS Health & Safety - Poison Prevention page for great Web site links.​​​​​

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Partnership Links

  • Medication Literacy Partnership
  • Poison Prevention Education Partnership
  • TEAM UP Tennessee
  • Tennessee Arthritis Education Partnership
  • Tennessee Asset Abuse
  • University of Tennessee Center for Community Health Literacy
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Program Links

  • Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program
  • Be MedWise Tennessee
  • Be Poison Safe Tennessee
  • Body & Soul: A Celebration of Healthy Eating and Living
  • Breast and Cervical Cancer Education
  • Choices for Better Bone Health
  • Cooking for a Lifetime
  • Dining with Diabetes
  • HPV Toolkit
  • Latino Health Access Toolkit
  • Living Well Cancer Education
  • Living Well with Chronic Conditions
  • Master Your Body
  • Navigating Your Healthcare System
  • Protect Your Family's Health with Immunizations
  • Protect the Skin You’re in Toolkit
  • Tai Chi
  • Take Charge of Your Diabetes
  • Walk Across Tennessee
  • Walk with Ease
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Health Links

  • Administration on Aging
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  • Food and Drug Administration - Consumer Health Information
  • Health Finder
  • Health Observances
  • Healthier Tennessee Initiative
  • Healthy People 2020
  • Medline Plus
  • National Academy on an Aging Society
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Safety Council
  • Tennessee Department of Health
  • Tennessee Department of Human Services
  • Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services
  • Tennessee Poison Center
  • United States Department of Health and Human Services
  • WebMD
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American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences​ ​​​​​​

The University of Tennessee Extension
Family and Consumer Sciences
2621 Morgan Circle, 121 Morgan Hall
Knoxville, TN 37996-4530
Phone: (865) 974-7384
Fax: (865) 974-1068

   American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences
   
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Knoxville, TN 37996
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