Hunter and Scout are two new puppets created by Mesner Puppet Theatre for The University of Kansas Health System Poison Control Center. Hunter, a dog and Scout, a cat, are making their debut during National Poison Prevention Week.  Approximately fifty-percent of the calls into the Poison Control Center involved children age six and younger.  Ninety-percent of the calls are from exposure to toxins found at home or another residence.

            “Poisons can make you sick!” Hunter declares in the fourteen minute video that will be shown to children at daycares and schools through the metro and state of Kansas. “I didn’t think there would be poisons in so many places,” Scout said after learning about household dangers. 

            The creative video and educational materials funded through a grant represent a team effort by the Poison Control Center, Kansas Child Care Aware, KCCTO and the Kansas School Nurse advisory committee. See clips from the video below, including behind-the-scenes as it was made, and hear from Poison Control Educator Stefanie Baines and Medical Director Steven Thornton, MD on the value and need for poison control centers and how they work. They also discuss the most common types of poisonings and offer ways to prevent them.