Home Safety: Safe Medicine Storage

by Monika Sakala on June 25th, 2013 | No Comments »

June is National Safety Month and the CDC, along with the Protect Initiative, are mobilizing parents across the country to remember the importance of safe medicine storage. Did you know four busloads of kids are taken to the ER every day for accidental medicine ingestion? It was news to me. Shocking news, actually.

When I first learned of the CDC's educational effort, I took stock of my own house and evaluated where we store medicine.What I found is our medicines are scattered throughout the house. Some are in the kitchen, some in the bathroom, and most kid-specific medicines were stored in a container on a top shelf of our linen closet. Carefully taking a few minutes to check where we have our medicines stored made me realize that we were being sloppy with daily medicines and vitamins.

I suffer from migraines. Plus, we give the girls vitamins every morning. Both of these pieces of our daily routine were often left right out on the counter. Mostly so I wouldn't forget to take and dispense them. But the truth is, I shouldn't be leaving anything out. According to the CDC's educational web site, Up & Away, all medicines need to be stored safely up, away, and out of sight of children.To underscore the importance of being vigilant with safe medicine storage, check out the infographic above—some of these facts stopped me dead in my tracks (click on it to view it larger and please feel free to share it with your friends and family!).

I had no idea so many kids are taken to the hospital due to accidental medicine ingestions. Here's what the CDC is asking us to do: in honor of National Safety Month, they are asking parents to take a picture of their safe medicine storage location and share it on Twitter or Instagram using #MedsUpAway.

True mom confession time—at first I was a little hesitant to share my spot because my linen closet is a home organization Pinterest fail. But I got over it. It's a critically important reminder for all of us especially with summer here and family traveling into town or traveling to see grandparents. We have to constantly be vigilant with little ones around; those little hands and feet can quickly climb and reach and grab. With that, I'm totally outing myself, here's my #MedsUpAway picture that I'll share on Twitter and Instagram.

I hope you'll share your picture with your friends, family and community. Join the CDC and the Protect Initiative in this important reminder to keep our kids safe all summer long. For more information and great resources, check out the Up and Away web site. And for anyone else who easily forgets to take their daily medicines, like me, here are some really useful and helpful tips to follow. Again, please click on the image to view it larger and feel free to share it!

Click on the image to view it in full size

Join me and share your pictures using #MedsUpAway @OTCSafety @CDC on Twitter. Feel free to share these infographics, as they are such important reminders for parents everywhere.

What are you doing to make sure your medicines are being kept safe from little ones?

Featured image by Flickr

Monica with her two girls

Monica is a DC based parenting blogger. She blogs as Wired Momma and tends to gravitate towards humorous posts about parenting (which is pretty easy with a preschooler in tow) and work-life "balance" issues. She has two girls, ages 4 and 7. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.

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Monica Sakala

Monica is a DC based parenting writer. She blogs at Wired Momma and tends to gravitate towards humorous pieces, which is easy with a toddler in tow, and work-life "balance" issues. She also contributes to Huffington Post and Washingtonian Magazine. Follow her on Twitter or hit "Like" on her Facebook page, it'll be the most fun you ever did have.