SIOUX CITY — Today marks the first day of spring, and it’s also the start of Poison Prevention Week in Iowa.

Tammy Noble, a registered nurse and spokeswoman for the Iowa Poison Control Center, says once people launch into their spring cleaning projects, the risks rise of someone, often a child, being exposed to powerful household cleansers.  “We’re focusing on trying to remind people that when poisons happen, we’re here for you. Poison centers are always available 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Noble says. “And poisonings happen to people of all ages. So it’s not just something that we have to worry about with kids.”

The Sioux City-based poison center suggests parents can prevent poisonings by storing chemicals in a locked cupboard, not just under the sink. Noble says they should be out of a child’s reach. “Last year, we had over 23,000 human exposure calls, so people in Iowa that had some type of an exposure to poison,” Noble says. “Sixty-four-percent of those involved a medicine, and when you look at what’s the top medicine that people have exposures to, it’s pain medicine.”

Learn more at the website IowaPoison.org. Noble suggests putting the hotline in your smartphone’s contact list so it’s always handy — at 1-800-222-1222.