It’s Poison Prevention Week

The third week in March is National Poison Prevention Week. Maybe you're like I am, the first image that comes to mind is a child swallowing a cleaner or maybe a pet lapping up anti-freeze from the floor. Poison really covers a wide gamut. It also includes things such as carbon monoxide poisoning. Just this past weekend around 2 dozen family members were overcome by carbon monoxide during a family gathering. The problem? They were using a charcoal grill in the basement.Hopefully most people know better than that. Kids swallowing small objects such as batteries may also fall under the category of poisoning.

Around 50% of poisonings occur in children under the age of 6. One step that is being offered is one I'd never thought of. When taking your medications, do it behind a closed door if you have small children. They like to copy mom and dad.I remember as a little boy watching my grandpa taking his dentures out to clean. Little Loren spent a long time trying to take his teeth out. I still get ribbed about that. Around 3/4 of children's emergency room visits related to poison involve a child consuming a parent or grandparent's medication.

One of the more obvious tips is to keep your medications high up and out of reach or even under lock and key. Adults should also be aware of the possible dangers of some medications not working properly with other medications they take. You can take to your pharmacist about this. By the way, did you ever notice the numbers on your pills? They can be used to identify which medication is which in case you should drop a pill and not sure what bottle it came out of.

The Poison Help Hotline is in service 24/7. It's 800-222-1222,