A poison center is only as good as the people answering the phones, so I want to give thanks for a fantastic year of effort by our talented and knowledgeable Specialists in Poison Information. Our pharmacists and pharmacy technician have extraordinary expertise and this year sustained our perfect 100% history passing the national certification exam.
Also thanks to our amazing educator, who has exceeded her goals for outreach three years in a row. Preventing poisoning and promoting awareness of our services is a vital component of our mission.
I am equally proud of the expertise of our medical staff. I congratulate Dr. Warrick for attaining board certification in Addiction Medicine, to add to his toxicology credentials. He has become a critical piece of the statewide efforts to combat opioid addiction.
I thank Dr. Seifert for his provision of statewide education regarding a new anti-venom available for the 2019 snakebite season and for promoting education of our pharmacy and medical students and residents.
To maintain all of these activities, the poison center depends upon private philanthropy, in addition to state funding. We have some challenges ahead, in that a significant part of our funding is derived from the Tobacco Settlement fund, which has generated diminishing resources the last two years, and as a result has depleted our reserve funding considerably.
To this end, I have created, along with Angela Lovato, the Dennis S. Peña Poison Center Endowment fund. Once fully funded, this endowment will become an enduring tribute to a legendary New Mexican pharmacist who was passionate about the New Mexico Poison & Drug Information Center. We will honor his memory by promoting education regarding poisoning to vulnerable populations in our state.
~Dr. Susan Smolinske, PharmD
