President
Marie Warner-Crosson, MA
Maryland Institute for Emergency
Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS)
President-Elect
Joseph Gillian
Injured Workers Insurance Fund
Board of Directors
Angel Bivens, RPh, MBA, CSPI
Maryland Poison Center
Andrea C. Gielen, ScD, ScM
Center for Injury Research and
Policy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health
Adil Haider, MD, MPH
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Corinn King
Chesapeake Region Safety Council
Jackie Abendschoen-Milani, CPP
National Study Center for Trauma
& EMS
Kathleen Hoke Dachell
Director, Network for Public Health
Law Eastern Region
Director, Center for Tobacco
Regulation
Associate Professor, University of
Maryland Carey School of Law
Cpl. Harry Rhule
Maryland Natural Resources Police
Pamela Southall, MD
Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner
Ida J. Williams,
Central Records Division
Maryland State Police
Newsletter
J A N U A R Y
2 0 1 2
Preventing Injuries in Maryland:
A Resource for State Policy Makers
Each year in the Maryland General
Assembly, our elected representatives
consider many bills related to injury prevention and safety. As members of the
Partnership for a Safer Maryland, we have
knowledge and experience that can inform
decisions about these bills – and the Resource for State Policy Makers can help
you share your injury prevention expertise
with policy makers.
The Resource for State Policy Makers was developed to facilitate the exchange of evidence-based information
between the injury prevention community
and Maryland policymakers. The Resource communicates with policy makers
using easily accessible and understandable
information on the size and scope of specific injury problems in Maryland. Highlighting policy solutions that are grounded
in state-of-the-art science is one strategy
for bringing attention to injury and the
solutions that we know are effective.
Research shows that policymakers
want tools to help them identify what will
work to address the problems facing their
constituents; however, the information is
often difficult to find and the implications
for policy decisions are not always clear.
The Resource can help meet this need.
The 2010 and 2011 editions of the
Resource covered eight high-priority injury topics for the State: alcohol and injury, ATV safety, distracted driving, falls
among older adults, home fires, intimate
partner violence; motorcycle safety, and
teen drivers.
The 2012 edition of the Resource,
(which will be available during the 2012
Session) includes two additional topics –
poisoning and trauma systems. Each topic
is presented as a one page fact sheet broken
down into three primary sections: How
Does it Affect the United States, How
Does it Affect Maryland, and How do we
Address the Problem. Each topic also includes resources for additional information
and references. The publication is designed
to be reader-friendly, with concise information on the nature and scope of each
problem nationally and in Maryland, as
well as the best evidence-based policy solutions.
The response to the Resource during
the past two sessions has been positive.
Since the 2010 edition, The Johns Hopkins
Center for Injury Research and Policy has
received an increasing number of requests
to testify on particular bills and two invitations to brief committees on injury in
Maryland. In addition, we’ve heard from
several colleagues in other states who are
interested in replicating the Resource.
The Resource was designed for policymakers and their staff, but is available
free of charge to anyone interested in addressing injury in Maryland through evidence-based policy solutions.
The 2011 Edition of the guide is located at: http://www.jhsph.edu/bin/a/p/
CIRPPolicyResource2011.pdf
Thanks to Shannon Frattaroli and Keshia Pollack from the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center
for Injury Research and Policy for contributing this article.
www.safermaryland.org ● 410-767-6779 ● [email protected]
News You Can Use:
Poison Prevention Happenings in Maryland
Poison Prevention Week 2012 is right around
the corner and will be observed March 18-24.
This is a special year as it is the 50th celebration of
Poison Prevention Week. The purpose of the legislation signed by President Kennedy was to highlight the dangers of poisonings and how to prevent
them. Over the past 50 years, poison centers have
taken up this cause to educate the public about
potential dangers of household products and medicines and to be there to help when a poisoning or
overdose occurs.
Ten years ago, a nationwide telephone number was launched to make reaching poison centers
even easier. By dialing 1-800-222-1222 from
anywhere in the U.S., the caller will be connected
to a local poison center and will speak directly
with a pharmacist or nurse who has special training in toxicology who can help them with their
poison emergency. This number should be added
to all emergency telephone number lists, kept on
or near the home telephone and programmed into
mobile phones so it is available should a poisoning or overdose occur.
More recently, special campaigns have been
launched highlighting more specific poison topics.
In December 2011, the CDC launched “Up and
Away.” This campaign points out that over
60,000 young children end up in hospital emergency rooms every year because they got into
medicines while their parent or caregiver was not
looking. The campaign suggests taking six steps
that will help protect children from medicine mishaps:
 Store medicine in a place where children cannot reach.
 Put medicine away every time it is used
 Ensure the safety cap is locked.
 Teach children about medicine safety
 Tell guests about medicine safety
 Be prepared for an emergency by having the
poison center phone number near the phone or
programmed into home or mobile phones.
.
The campaign website is www.upandaway.org
The Battery Controlled” is another campaign
highlighting the dangers of button batteries when
children swallow them. The campaign is cosponsored by Energizer and Safe Kids World
Wide, but has multiple partners including the
American Association of Poison Control Centers.
The campaign website is
www.thebatterycontrolled.com.
Finally, the Acetaminophen Awareness Coalition has launched its campaign highlighting steps
to take to use acetaminophen-containing medicines safely. The “Know Your Dose” campaign
provides information about acetaminophen and
urges consumers to read medicine labels every
time they take a medicine. The campaign website
is www.knowyourdose.org.
The Maryland Poison Center celebrates an
important milestone in 2012. This year, we will
celebrate our 40th anniversary of providing poison
center services to Marylanders! To mark the anniversary, the Maryland Poison Center will have a
new look. We have traded our purple and green in
for black and red. We have all new materials and
hope to launch a new website in the coming
months. You can order materials by going to
www.mdpoison.com and clicking on “Order Educational Materials.” Our “What you need to
know” brochure is no longer available in print, but
all of the information found in that brochure can
be found on our website under the “Education”
heading, then clicking on “Poison Information.”
Thanks to Angel
Bivens from the Maryland Poison Center
for contributing this
article.