Help Your Kids Stay Safe This Summer — Keep All Medicines Up and Away
Published June 21, 2023 (revised June 24, 2024)
Kids can get sick if they swallow medicines, vitamins, or other supplements they’re not supposed to – including those that come in gummy form. Help your kids stay healthy this summer by keeping your medicines in a safe place — whether you’re at home or on the go.
Consider these tips to store medicines safely:
With hectic summer schedules, it’s easy to forget about everyday tasks. Don’t forget to put medicines, vitamins, and other supplements away right after you give or take them, every time.
Keep medicines in a place kids can’t see or reach — like in a high cabinet or on a high closet shelf.
Planning a family vacation? Be sure to pack your medicines in child-resistant containers. If you’re staying in a hotel, you can put medicines in the hotel room safe or on a high shelf in the closet.
Be sure to keep your vitamins and other supplements —including those in gummy form —up and away and out of sight and reach too!
If you think your child may have swallowed a medicine, vitamin, or other supplement, get help right away — even if you’re not sure. Call Poison Help at 800-222-1222 or go to PoisonHelp.org.
Preparing for a Virtual Appointment with Your Doctor
During the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, many doctors have switched from in-person appointments to virtual appointments with their patients using the phone or a computer video call. Virtual appointments, also known as telemedicine, can usually replace in-person visits effectively for consultations and for examinations that do not require close physical contact. They allow doctors to provide clinical services to their patients using electronic communications, without requiring patients to come into the office. Doctors are doing this to maintain physical distancing because COVID-19 can easily be spread from one person to another. Hospitals and clinics are also using telemedicine to communicate with patients and families.
Don’t Confuse a Product Called WartSTICK with Lip Balm!
Many people are familiar with over-the-counter wart treatments. They're typically liquid based or are packaged in an aerosol container with a special application tip. But did you know there is also a wart remover that uses a dry formulation in the form of a stick? Within the last year a company called Balassa Laboratories has repackaged an old formula of a solid stick wart remover (previously packaged under the name PediFix). The newly packaged product, called WartSTICK, is now available at popular chain drugstores such as CVS, Rite Aid and Walgreens on-line. Our concern? It looks identical to a container of lip balm. The active ingredient in WartSTICK is salicylic acid, which should NEVER come in contact with the lips or mucous membranes inside your mouth.
Consumers as well as some health professionals may not know that most medicine patches should never be cut before being applied to the skin. Patches are designed to give a constant amount of medicine over a certain period of time, which may range from several hours to a month. The medicine reaches your body by going through the blood vessels under your skin. If the patch is cut, the medicine in each half of the patch might be released too quickly, leading to a serious overdose.
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