Animal Poison Control Center Launches Veterinary Lifeline Partner Program

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
Monday, 25 March 2002

New Program Makes It Easier For Veterinarians To Respond To Poison Emergencies

Fast, accurate response? That's what the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center does best. So it was natural for them to respond quickly to requests from a growing number of veterinarians: Can we set up an account with the Center so our clinic's information is on file any time we call?

The answer is yes. With the introduction of the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center Veterinary Lifeline Partner ProgramTM, which becomes available to veterinary clinics April 1st, it will be easier than ever for veterinary clinics to respond to animal poison emergencies. The Center's new Veterinary Lifeline Partner Program not only allows veterinarians to establish an account, it provides participating clinics with a long list of enrollment advantages. The most important benefit is simply the streamlining of the process, according to Steve Hansen, DVM, senior vice president of the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center.

"When veterinarians or their staff members call the Center, we don't want anything to slow down the process," Hansen said. "Our goal is, first and foremost, to handle the emergency so we can get to an accurate diagnosis and treatment recommendation as quickly as possible. If we can call up a clinic's name, address and other vital information from our system files, that's one less thing for everyone to worry about at an urgent time."

When an animal's life is endangered by a poisonous substance, the Animal Poison Control Center, offers an emergency resource for veterinarians and animal owners. Established in 1978 at the University of Illinois, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center is the only animal poison control center in North America. Its hotline is staffed 24-hours-a-day 7-days-a-week by 25 full-time veterinarians, including five board-certified veterinary toxicologists, who are all assisted by a state-of-the-art veterinary toxicology database system called AnToxTM. With more than 600,000 animal poisoning cases on file, AnTox provides individual diagnostic and treatment protocols and medical records instantly.

"In a poison emergency, a matter of minutes can sometimes make all the difference," according to Hansen. "Guesswork or misinformation can kill an animal. That's why we're encouraging veterinary clinics to sign up for the new Veterinary Lifeline Partner Program so we can all work together even more effectively during emergencies."

Enrollment is free and once a clinic has set up an account with the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, it is automatically enrolled in the Veterinary Lifeline Partner Program. As a benefit of enrollment each clinic receives the following:

For more information about the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center's Veterinary Lifeline Partner Program or to establish an account with the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, veterinarians or staff members can call (888) 332-3651 or log on at www.apcc-vlpp.aspca.org.

For more information, or to contact American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, see their website at: www.aspca.org