As the holidays grow near many of us are looking forward to time spent with family gathered around the table or just laughing together and making memories. The sights, the smells, the excitement of little ones, and catching up or telling old stories. Even the old FL sun occasionally gives us a few days off where we get to experience a little chill in the air. One thing that many don’t think about during the holidays however is medication safety. There are however 3 steps that you can take to help keep yourself and your family safe during the holidays.
- Safe Use – Often times when the holidays come, our schedules and routines may change a bit. These small changes may make it hard to remember if you have taken your medications yet or not for the day, or if you have given your children or adults in your care their medications or not for the day. One thing you can do is to buy a pill box and set it up for the week or even the month ahead of time to take the medication guessing game stress off of your plate so you can focus on the things you love.
- Safe Disposal – Do you have expired medications filling your medicine cabinets? Do you have a prescription medication you stopped taking at some point in the past? The best thing you can do to avoid accidentally taking an expired medication, taking the wrong medication, or someone else accidentally taking your old medications is to dispose of them. It is not safe however to simply throw them in the trash or flush them down the toilet. That could lead to pollution, plants and animals being harmed, or medications falling into the wrong hands and potentially harming someone. Charlotte County Sheriffs Office has several medication disposal locations where you can drop off unused and expired medications and know that they will be safely disposed of. A list of locations is posted below.
- Safe Storage – With family members coming over for the holidays we often have a very busy and very full house and kids can be very curious, especially since many medications can resemble colorful candies. Or perhaps your traveling and bringing your medications with you. Putting your medications out of children’s reach, or even better – locking them up, is a great way to ensure your family and friends stay safe. There are many different types of medication lock boxes you can buy, both big and small for more permanent storage situations or for a more on-the-go travel situation.
Happy holidays from Drug Free Charlotte County, and for more
information and resources on safe use, safe disposal, and safe storage, please
visit us online at www.drugfreecharlottecounty.org,
or go to www.SafeRx.tips. See below for medication disposal locations:
Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office
District 1
11051 Wilmington Blvd, Englewood
Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office
Administrative Building
7474 Utilities Road, Punta Gorda
Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office
District 3
3110 Loveland Blvd, Port Charlotte, FL 33980
Punta Gorda Public Safety Complex
1410 Tamiami Trail, Punta Gorda
Walgreens
2940 S. McCall Rd, Englewood, FL 34224