Poison Prevention Elementary School Outreaches

Our Poison Prevention elementary school outreaches are annually coordinated to visit local students to educate them about the dangers of household poisons and to equip them with the knowledge of the necessary steps needed to take in an emergency situation. With the help of our committees and enthusiastic student pharmacist volunteers, we had a successful year of outreaches spanning from mid-February to June. CSHP-UCSD's Poison Prevention Project reached out to a total of 709 elementary school students and their teachers, and included the involvement of 6 local schools. In addition to visiting elementary schools, our student volunteers presented at local Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego in support of their goals of helping children from lower income families succeed in academics, character development, and living a healthy lifestyle. These presentations highlighted pharmacists' roles in poison prevention, the definition of a poison, its effects on the body, and who to contact in an emergency. Following the presentation, two hands-on activities with the elementary school students demonstrated the importance of differentiating poisonous household items with edible products by reading labels and identifying cautionary words and symbols. The presentations were well received by the children, who were very eager to answer questions and to volunteer for demonstrations. We also held a trivia contest for the children, who were asked to answer poison prevention related questions based off information from our presentations and our website. Five students were randomly chosen to be awarded prizes.