Kosair for Kids launches campaign around safe medication storage

With Kentucky kids dying from access to substances, Kosair for Kids has launched a campaign to educate families and people working with children about safe storage.

About a third of the state’s child deaths and near-deaths were because a youngster accessed dangerous substances, the annual Child Fatality and Near Fatality External Review Panel report showed. 

Despite that, “less than one in four caregivers report using safe storage practices for medication at home,” Kosair for Kids said Wednesday in announcing its education campaign. 

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To address that, Kosair and its Face It initiative, which works to end child abuse, has a website, video public service announcements and a printable flyer featuring safe storage tips. Those tips include: 

• Keep prescriptions and over-the-counter medications up and away, in a locked container or medication safe.  
• Ask family and guests if they have medication in their purse or luggage so you can put it away safely while at your home.     
• Keep track of the number of pills/strips you have in your medication bottle so you can know how many a child may have ingested.  
• Program the Poison Control Center number in your phone and keep it posted on your refrigerator. It is 800-222-1222. 

Dr. Christina Howard, child abuse pediatrician and chief of the Division of Pediatric Forensic Medicine at Kentucky Children’s Hospital, said in a statement that “any opioid that is not taken as directed can have dangerous side effects including overdose.” Overdoses should be treated with Narcan and a 911 call, she said. 

“These tragedies are easily preventable,” Barry Dunn, the president and CEO of Kosair for Kids, said in a statement. “Kosair for Kids is committed to ensuring families have what they need for their children to grow up healthy and safe from harm. That is why we prioritize parent and caregiver education, free tools like lockboxes available to families, and changing simple, everyday habits. We can and must keep harmful substances out of the hands of young children.”