Poison Control Center Shutdown Is Averted

A threatened shutdown of Los Angeles’ financially-strapped Regional Poison Control Center was averted Wednesday when county officials said they will take over its operation from the Los Angeles County Medical Assn.

The association disclosed last month that it might have to discontinue the service due to a drop in private contributions and cutbacks in state subsidies.

County officials announced Wednesday that at the end of the year, the county Department of Health Services will assume responsibility for operation of the poison control center, which has a $1.2-million budget and serves callers from Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

Services provided by the center are “too vital to the public’s interest to even consider letting it cease operations,” said Deane Dana, chairman of the county Board of Supervisors.

County officials said they hope to offset the cost of operation by increasing the poison center’s efficiency and pursuing a variety of innovative funding possibilities.

Bonnie Chun, a management analyst in the county’s Chief Administrative Office, said she is considering asking Santa Barbara and Ventura counties to contribute to the Regional Poison Center, which provides 24-hour-a-day emergency telephone assistance to the residents of those counties as well as Los Angeles.

Collette Wright, vice president of program and policy at the medical association, praised the county’s action as a “wonderful holiday gift.” She said she will work closely with the county to “assure a smooth transition.”

In 1990, the center received 75,000 calls, most of which involved poisonings of children aged 6 and under. “We believe that for every dollar spent on poison prevention we save $10 in treatment in emergency departments,” Wright said.

The medical association took over the Regional Poison Center 11 years ago from Childrens Hospital, which started it in 1957.

Wright said that private donations to the center--which come mainly from local hospitals, physicians, foundations and insurance companies involved in health care--dropped by two-thirds this year, making the center’s continued operation unfeasible.

To save money last spring, the center cut the number of incoming public phone lines from six to four.

Across the nation, poison control centers are struggling with financial problems.

“We are doing terribly,” said Dr. Toby Litovitz, president of the American Assn. of Poison Control Centers. “There is virtually no poison center in the United States that is adequately funded right now.”