DISASTER PREPAREDNESS OF POISON CONTROL CENTERS IN THE UNITED-STATES

Objective: To assess the state of disaster readiness of poison control centers, a survey questionnaire was sent to all 96 institutional pois on control center members of the American Association of Poison Contro l Centers in the US, both certified and noncertified programs. Design: The data reported are the results and responses from 76 of 96 (79.2%) poison control centers. Results: Fifty-four percent of responding cen ters have written disaster plans, with 25% having drills to practice t he plans. Of the centers that do not have a written plan, the majority have policies and procedures in place to address physical plant damag e, increased phone traffic, loss of phone systems and malfunction of c omputers. Eighty-six percent of respondents have a back up generator, and 82% have an uninterruptable power supply in place. Fifty-four perc ent have a back up phone system and 33% have cellular phone capacity. Forty-six percent of responding centers have arrangements with other a gencies in the event of a disaster. Only half of the managing director s of the responding centers believe their center can meet the public's needs in the event of a disaster.