Castlebar native Dr Edel Duggan and her team from The National Poisons Information Centre were among the winners at this year’s Crystal Clear MSD Health Literacy Awards for their project Say No To Poisons. At a ceremony in Dublin, Dr Duggan and her team were awarded for their project in the category Best Health Promotion Project.
Paediatric poisoning is common and results in substantial healthcare costs. In 2011 the National Poisons Centre (NPIC ) at Beaumont Hospital received 9,219 enquiries relating to human cases of poisoning. Some 46 per cent of these cases were children under five years of age. This unique and innovative project focused on delivering age-appropriate information to pre-school children. Its aim was to raise poison awareness and increase understanding in children by teaching them to always ask an adult if something is safe to eat, drink, or touch.
A child focused learning programme was developed in a collaborative way with leaders from different educational disciplines, sharing professional experience, skills, and knowledge.
Speaking about the team’s win, Dr Duggan said: “We are delighted to have won a Crystal Clear MSD Health Literacy award. It is an honour to be recognised for our work. The campaign has been a great success and winning this award means we will gain national recognition for our efforts as well as raise further awareness of the Say No To Poisons initiative.’’
The five winning initiatives were selected from nearly 130 entries which had to demonstrate how they addressed the issue of health literacy.
