By Maggie Downs, Enquirer staff writer
and Carrie Spencer, The Associated Press

Cincinnati's poison control center, the largest of three in the state, could lose a significant amount of its income after a state budget cut, according to a local official.

The Ohio Department of Health cut its entire $388,000 aid to the state poison control centers with the budget that began July 1. The department is focusing on bioterrorism and disease prevention such as immunization, state Health Director J. Nick Baird said.

"While we agree poison control centers provide an important service to Ohioans, these tough times lead to tough decisions," Baird wrote to the three centers last week.

The Cincinnati Drug and Poison Information Center covers 38 counties and reaches 4.7 million Ohioans, about 40 percent of the state population. Last year, the center received 120,000 calls. Fifty percent of those were regarding children under the age of 5 who unintentionally got into chemicals.

The state contribution to the budget was 6 percent of the $6.2 million yearly budget for the Ohio Poison Control Collaborative, which runs centers here and in Columbus and Cleveland. Even that is a large cut in a system reduced from 13 centers in 1990, said Dr. Marcel Casavant, director of the Central Ohio Poison Center in Columbus.

The local center received about 40 percent of the state's $388,000 - almost $155,000, said co-director Earl Siegel.

The centers will lose another $660,473 in federal funds unless they make up the state cut elsewhere, said Kevin Ropp, Health Resources and Services Administration spokesman. The grant rules require keeping the same level of nonfederal support.

The Cincinnati facility receives $300,000 in federal money. It also receives funding from federal grants and local grants from municipalities in the center's coverage area.

The centers are making do by shifting money internally and working with lawmakers to find a new source of funds to save the federal grant, Casavant said. The three directors haven't decided if they would lay off staff or close a center if they lose the full $1 million.

"We'll have to become more creative in order to make sure we stay effective and efficient," Siegel said. "We might have to knock on the doors of all the jurisdictions we cover and ask them to help us.

"But we've been around for 40 years and we have a long history of survival. We'll keep providing the best service we can."

Children's hospitals in the three cities subsidize the poison centers with $3.2 million yearly, providing free space and paying many employees, Casavant said.

Other hospitals, United Way, local health departments and private organizations also provide support.

Over the last decade, the centers have expanded their work to preparing for possible terrorist attacks. While they get federal money for that purpose, it can't be used for regular poison control work, Casavant said.

Siegel said people in Cincinnati should realize how much of a public service the center provides - even saving on long-term health care costs.

"Every call to us costs us about $23," he said. "If the person called 911 instead, they could go to the emergency room, then get admitted, and so on. That rapidly adds up to $400 or more.

"We save lives and we lower morbidity, too."