TGIF: A funny video to close a long week

Did anyone else have a very long week? I wanted to share with you a video that Dr. Craig Smollin told me about. Craig is a toxicology-fellowship trained EM faculty who works at San Francisco General and the San Francisco Poison Control Center. He gave a lecture to our residents about ipecac and provided a graphic demonstration of its effects, using a video clip from Family Guy. One of the funniest videos I've seen in a long time.



On an aside, in an unfathomable move by the California government, the California Poison Control Centers are on the budget chopping block because of the recent financial crisis. That's totally wrong and unsafe. Help us save the CA Poison Control Centers!

Show your support by calling your local Assemblyman or Senator (which can be found by visiting www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html), and the Office of the Governor (916-445-2841), and request that funding be restored.

Quick Facts:

• Eliminating poison control will dramatically increase use of California’s overburdened emergency medical system
• Poison control saves California over $70 million in health care costs annually, including $29 million for uninsured and Medi-Cal ER visits.
• Estimates indicate that an additional 164,000 people would visit an ED either directly or by ambulance if poison control services are not available.
• Elimination of California General Fund support will lead to forfeiture of $6.2 million in Federal funding for the service.