Poison Center Celebrates Poison Prevention Week with Annual Poster Contest

Students from Baltimore’s Edgewood Elementary School selected as winners in contest designed to raise awareness of poison prevention

By Becky Ceraul
March 21, 2012

On March 19, three students at Edgewood Elementary School in Baltimore City received a special surprise in front of their classmates, teachers, and families as they were honored at an assembly as winners of the Maryland Poison Center’s Poison Prevention Week Poster Contest. Each student received a framed print of their poster and will have their original artwork submitted to the national contest for possible use in national mailings in 2013.

Fifth grade student Tashauna Pope drew the winner poster. Second place went to fourth-grader Kristian Lancaster and third place was fifth grader Victoria Moore. Natalie D. Eddington, PhD, FAAPS, FCP, professor and dean of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy; Oxiris Barbot, MD, Baltimore City’s Health Commissioner, and Damion Cooper, director of neighborhood relations for Baltimore City, were on hand to recognize the winners.

In her remarks to the students, Eddington reminded them of the importance of knowing the Poison Center’s phone number should they ever encounter a poisoning situation. She also praised the enthusiasm the students demonstrated for the contest. “We are so pleased that your school has the top three winners of the Poison Center’s annual Poison Prevention Week Poster Contest. Your posters were all so creative.”

The Maryland Poison Center has partnered with a variety of local Safe Kids coalitions each of the last 10 years for the annual Poison Prevention Week Poster Contest. “The coalition felt it was appropriate to bring the contest to Baltimore this year because it is the home of the Poison Center, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary,” says Angel Bivens, RPh, MBA, CSPI, public education coordinator for the Maryland Poison Center. “By promoting the poster contest to elementary school students, we hope to increase their awareness of the Maryland Poison Center, increase their knowledge about poison safety, and have them act as ambassadors to take our message home to their families.”

This year marks the 50th anniversary of National Poison Prevention Week and the 40th anniversary of the Maryland Poison Center, a part of the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. The Center handles more than 62,000 calls each year and has served approximately two million Marylanders in its 40 years. The Maryland Poison Center is staffed around the clock, seven days a week by specially trained pharmacists and nurses who have provided poisoning triage, treatment recommendations, education, and prevention services to Marylanders since 1972.