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adpowers | 14 years ago

Try searching for [poison control] or [suicide]. Both of those bring up one boxes with phone numbers to call. Those probably help save a couple lives per day. Sure, you could call 911 and have them give you the poison control number, but now you've tied up 911 resources.

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pipeline_tux|14 years ago

I'm sure that the 911 operator won't mind, especially if it is or could be a genuine emergency.

mindcrime|14 years ago

Speaking as a former 911 operator, I can say fairly certainly that a 911 operator won't object to you calling to try and access the poison control center. They'll probably just transfer you, OR (more likely, depending on the policies of the jurisdiction in question) go ahead and dispatch an EMS crew to your location.

burgerbrain|14 years ago

I would think that the time saved not looking up those numbers yourself and just dialing 911 would make it worth always dialing 911.