Virginia Poison Center Celebrates 50th Anniversary

By Malorie Burkett and Cassie Williams

The Virginia Poison Center in the Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center's Department of Emergency Medicine, will host an anniversary celebration to commemorate 50 years of service.

The event will take place Friday, May 30, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the Virginia Poison Center, 600 E. Broad St., Suite 640. 

Rutherfoord Rose, Pharm. D., director of the Virginia Poison Center; John Duval, MCV Hospitals CEO; and Joseph Ornato, M.D., chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine; will be speaking at the event.

The Virginia Poison Center was established in 1958 as the Central Virginia Poison Center - the first poison control center in Virginia. Originally established to serve central Virginia, the center expanded its service area to include all of eastern Virginia when the Tidewater Poison Center in Norfolk closed in 1990. The center then adopted its current name, the Virginia Poison Center, to reflect the larger regional service area. 

The center became certified as a regional poison center by the American Association of Poison Control Centers in 1998 and has maintained national certification since then.

The center provides direct emergency assistance with acute toxic exposures by telephone to the general public and to health professionals of the commonwealth. It also works to prevent unintentional poisonings through public education

For more information, call (804) 828-4780, or visit http://www.poison.vcu.edu/about.html.