Our West Texas Regional Poison Center (WTRPC) at Thomason Hospital is America's First 24-Hour Bilingual Bicultural Regional Poison Center Certified by the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC). Located in El Paso at its host institution, Thomason Hospital, it is the only poison center located directly on the entire 2,000 mile U.S.-Mexico border. Our center is at the forefront in the development of poison center services and educational programs for its border West Texas service region of 36 counties with 1.4 million inhabitants.

Our Mission is to reduce the morbidity, mortality, and costs associated with poisonings through provision of quality care to the citizens of Texas. Our strategy is: to provide immediate response to 1-800-222-1222 telephone inquiries during poisoning emergencies 24 hours a day and to provide educational programs to the general public and healthcare providers in the prevention and management of poisonings.

Our Vision is to continue to set the standard for quality as a community healthcare center, providing leadership, integrating a health delivery network which is dedicated to achieving improved health status, exceptional clinical outcomes, customer satisfaction, and value. In partnership with our patients, medical staff, employees, volunteers, and other community providers, we will build upon our clinical strengths to provide a continuum of care which includes health promotion and education, prevention, accessible primary, acute, and after-care services. We are committed to CARE: to serve our Community, to assure Accountability to our stakeholders, to enhance Respect and dignity for all, and to provide Excellence in service in all we do.

Our center is an integral part of the Texas Poison Center Network which consists of six Texas regional poison centers in El Paso, Amarillo, Dallas, Galveston, San Antonio, and Temple with the Texas Department of Health and the Texas Advisory Commission on State Emergency Communications. Throughout the State, 8 out of 10 calls to a poison center are safely handled at the caller's home under the poison center's direction. This avoids costly ambulance transportation and unnecessary emergency room expenses. Poison centers not only save lives, they save money. Specifically, for every $1 spent on poison center services, communities save between $5 and $8 in unnecessary healthcare costs.  The WTRPC has generated $31.8 million in total cost savings since 1995.

Our fully bilingual staff, to include Specialists in Poison Information, Medical Director, Director, Educator, and Office Coordinator, is uniquely qualified to provide expert poison information in English and Spanish to families, educators, and health care providers. This is accomplished through our 24-hour poison emergency hotline, case management, and professional and public outreach efforts specifically designed to address the U.S.- Mexico border and West Texas regions' unique demographics.

The service region is made up of largely rural communities where immediate access to healthcare facilities and providers is limited. The region covers 24% of Texas' land mass with only 7% of the State's population. Poison prevention and poison management/education programs provide an additional preventive medical service that might otherwise be overlooked. It must be noted that bilingual services in English and Spanish are essential to attain our goals of providing comprehensive poison center services for our citizens. In accordance with 2000 census figures, in the four Texas counties in the West Texas Regional Poison Center (WTRPC) region that border Mexico, there are approximately 609,843 people (41.1% of persons 5-17 years old and 49.3% of persons 18 years old and over) that do not speak English "very well." The need for bilingual (English-Spanish) education and poison prevention resources on the border is a health imperative.

Our West Texas region is unique in that our daily population levels increase significantly due to the influx of people crossing our international border. Just minutes from the heart of downtown El Paso is one of the most dynamic cities in the Republic of Mexico-Ciudad Juarez. With the recently approved North American Free Trade Agreement, movement between these two cities has increased significantly. The El Paso-Juarez port of entry is one of the busiest in the world with over 42 million legal north-bound border crossings into the United States. This translates into 6,122,025 pedestrian crossings; 580,200 commercial trucks and buses (870,300 people); and 15,747,393 private vehicles (36,219,003 people). It appears that the population of the City of El Paso is clearly understated due to continual movement of people. With this movement comes the threat of more dangerous poison exposures. The availability of medications in Juarez which can be acquired without a prescription undoubtedly leads to the potential for more serious exposures from misuse. The commerce between these two cities also increases the likelihood of exposure to hazardous materials. As we approach the next century, there will be significant increases in the need for poison prevention and exposure management services from our WTRPC.

Our Poison Center's continuing role as a pacesetter for effective and innovative poison center services for the 21st century includes the expansion of its professional educational and training services. This includes facilitating bi-national efforts between U.S. and Mexican healthcare professionals, participating directly in the development of a bi-national emergency response plan, and continuing its bi-national toxicology conference "Toxicology Has No Borders" in which experts from both the U.S. and Mexico convene to address the latest diagnostic and management information for toxic exposures. Our Poison Center also conducts toxicology review courses in both English and Spanish for healthcare providers and provides clinical experience rotations for resident physicians and pharmacy students.