L.A. Poison Control Center to Stay Open : Health: County-USC Medical Center says it will continue running the cash-strapped program through June, 1993.

The Los Angeles Regional Poison Control Center, threatened by a severe funding shortfall last year, has been saved from closure by Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, where it has relocated to become part of the public hospital’s existing drug information center for medical professionals.

The combined service, called the Los Angeles Regional Drug and Poison Information Center, serves both the public and professionals on its telephone hot lines. County health officials, who rescued the floundering poison center when the Los Angeles County Medical Assn. said it could no longer afford to run it, have committed $900,000 to support the combined drug and poison center through June 30, 1993.

However, with public health dollars in short supply, the county is looking at other ways to help finance the center’s services. Virginia Collins, a top deputy to the county’s chief administrative officer, Richard B. Dixon, said one possibility is combining the services of California’s seven regional poison centers into a single integrated system, accessible by toll-free 800 telephone numbers.

All of California’s poison centers are financially strapped. Orange County’s center, serving Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Inyo and Mono counties, will close in two weeks unless a private donor or public funding source is found, officials there said.

Besides merger options, Los Angeles County officials are seeking money from Santa Barbera and Ventura counties, whose residents are served by the Los Angeles poison center even though the counties and their medical communities have never contributed to its support.

The poison center at County-USC, staffed 24-hours a day, handles about 300 calls a day. Pharmacists and registered nurses answering the calls are backed up by volunteer pediatricians and toxicologists, according to Dr. Sol Bernstein, County-USC’s medical director.

“A lot of physicians in the community are doing this on a love basis, with no remuneration, which has enabled us to keep costs at a minimum and still provide an incredible scope of service,” Bernstein said.

Separate phone lines advise doctors and hospital emergency personnel on treatments for toxic chemical exposures, drug overdoses and adverse drug interactions. The center also has a health educator available to schools, industry and community groups.

The poison center’s public phone numbers are (213) 222-3212 and (800) 777-6476.