In LaDonna Bonnin’s line of work, the details really matter.
As associate director of the New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center, Bonnin is among the leaders of a team of pharmacists whose job is to advise callers on what to do after exposure to potentially harmful substance — be it pharmaceutical, aerosol, chemical or even botanical.
“If somebody calls me and says that their child got into Lysol, I want to know: Was it Lysol disinfectant? Was it an aerosol, or was it a pump spray? Or was it Lysol bathroom cleaner? Or was it Lysol multi-surface cleaner?” Bonnin said.
The New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center — which operates within the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy with support from both UNM Children’s Hospital and UNM School of Medicine — is one of a network of poison centers across the U.S. responsible for advising callers on possibly poisonous substances.