Viva Vitality: Locked up tight and out of sight is the safest

By Medicine Hat News on March 16, 2018.

All I hear lately on social media are jokes about kids eating tide pods, or “back in my day I had to eat the detergent right from the box.” It is time to update this myth, detergents and household solvents are no longer the major concern and that is great news. We have realized the danger and have changed our behaviour when it comes to protecting children from these toxic items. Most families have a child-proof plan in place to include proper storage of these dangerous products, now let’s accept the challenge to prevent the incidental poisoning of children from medications.

Even small amounts of adult medication can be fatal to your child, and are actually the most common types of poisonings requiring a trip to the emergency room. Most adults report that it only took a second for their child to mistakenly take the medicine. How many people leave medicine out somewhere they can see it to remind themselves to take it? A small girl ended up in the emergency department rather than her visiting with her grandmother, when she saw the pill container on the table and thought she was eating candy.

Every year in Alberta, more than 1,600 children under the age of 10 visit emergency departments as a result of unintentional poisonings. Young children have the highest risk of poisoning because of their natural curiosity.

Alberta’s Poison and Drug Information Service (PADIS) receives over 15,000 calls per year concerning unintentional exposure to poisons by children under 10. Medication is actually the leading cause of poisoning in children.

Many, if not most, unintentional poisonings could be prevented by following a few simple steps to make your home safer for your children and small visitors.

How safe is your home?

– Are all products in their original labelled containers?

– Are all medications out of sight and up high after every use?

– Do you use a lock or latch that cannot be opened by a child? Child resistant containers are not childproof. With enough time and determination a child may open a child resistant container.

– When taking medications do you take your medications away from children? Children often copy the actions of their parents.

– Do you refer to medicine as candy? Be extra careful with medicines that may taste good to your child, such as chewable vitamins and fruit-flavoured syrups.

– When a guest visits your home are purses, backpacks and coats out of children’s reach? Guests may bring their own medication into your home.

– Have you educated your child about the effects of medicines?

– Have you put the Poison and Drug Information Services (PADIS) emergency number in your phones?

If you think someone has been poisoned, call PADIS at 1-800-332-1414.

National Poison Prevention Week is March 18-24. This month, Alberta Health Services has partnered with your local pharmacies to assist with providing awareness messages as they dispense medications. Look for the messages on your prescription bags.

Make your home a poison-free zone and don’t eat the laundry pods!

For more information about poison prevention please visit http://www.myhealth.alberta.ca/health/Pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=ue5137spec and http://www.injurypreventioncentre.ca/programs/poisoning-prevention.php

Andreea Vrabie is a University of Lethbridge Public Health student working with the Population Health Promotion Program. She can be reached at andreea.vrabie@ahs.ca.

20
-19