Summer is a very busy time for Florida’s poison control centers.
Debi Forrest is the education coordinator for the center in Jacksonville. She said the call volume increases as temperatures rise.
“Children are out of school for one thing. Everybody is going outdoors and they’re taking care of their pools and we’re putting on insect repellant and we’re using more pesticide products outdoors as well.”
The First Coast's poison control is at UF Health Jacksonville at 655 West 8th Street in Springfield.
Forrest said calls about spiders and snakes go up by more than 30 percent in the summer. Her advice is simple: “If they come upon a snake, not to try to pick it up or try to identify it or try to take a selfie with it or anything of that nature because it’s been done and it can be very dangerous.”
Forrest said the poison control center in Jacksonville is staffed 24/7 by doctors, nurses and pharmacists.
The center receives calls from 47 Florida counties and the U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as cell phone calls from around the country.
And when those calls come in, she said, the staff works with hospitals in those locations to make sure people get the help they need.
For poisoning emergencies people can call 1-800-222-1222/TTY. More information about Jacksonville's poison control center is available here.
Contact reporter Cyd Hoskinson at choskinson@wjct.org, 904-358-6351 and on Twitter @cydwjctnews.
Photo used under Creative Commons license.
