How to Help a Person Who Has Ingested Poison

Video Transcript

"You know, at times a person may ingest something that wasn't supposed to be ingested, known as a poison. Hi, I'm Captain Joe Bruni. What we're going to talk about is the steps to take if someone ingests some type of poison. The first thing to determine is what type of product or poison was ingested. Was it plant, was it food, or was it some type of drug? If it falls into oh any of those three categories, inducing nausea and vomiting would be your next step. If the product or poison is some type of petroleum product or corrosive product, you would not attempt to induce vomiting and nausea, as as the product burned on the way down it could cause damage and burning on the way back up. But as long as it's plant, food, or drug we would induce vomiting. One of the ways to induce vomiting would be to mix ipecac syrup with about a liter of water, two teaspoons or tablespoons with a liter of water, and have the victim drink that. Once nausea and vomiting occur, we would mix charcoal, activated charcoal with water; commonly found in many first aid kits, and have the person drink that to absorb whatever residual poisons may be left in the stomach area. Again, keep in mind, if it's some type of petroleum or corrosive product we would not want to induce vomiting of any type. We would also want to contact poison control by knowing what the number is of our local poison control facility, contacting them and seeking out specific instructions and directions from them, once we identify and determine what type of poison it is. I'm Captain Joe Bruni. Stay safe. We'll see ya next time."