National Poison Prevention Week is the Perfect Time to Make Sure Your Home is Safe with These Poison Prevention Tips

Every year during the third week in March we recognize National Poison Prevention Week, a week set aside to raise awareness to the estimated two million poisonings that are documented annually. This year, National Poison Prevention Week is March 20^th through 26^th, which is great to kick off spring cleaning. With spring making its appearance on day one of National Poison Prevention Week, this is the ideal time to talk about how to make your and your family’s home and air quality safe during spring cleaning.

Cleaning Products

Put them in a locked cabinet, store them on high shelves, do whatever it takes to ensure tiny fingers and paws can’t reach your cleaning supplies. You can install child-safety locks on you cabinets and drawers to help keep young ones and animals away, but child-safe does not mean child-proof. Putting cleaners on an unreachable shelf or in a high cabinet is the surest way to help keep your family from accessing unsafe chemicals. Always leave the cleaning solutions in the original container with the original label to avoid any uncertainty and to make sure you have all the information in the event something does happen. Also, don’t forget to turn on fans and open windows while you are cleaning to keep the chemicals from getting stuck in your breathing air.

REMINDER: Just because it is natural does not mean it is non-toxic – treat ALL cleaning solutions with the utmost caution.

Medicines

Two vital things mentioned about cleaning supplies are also critical for medicines.

• Just because it’s natural doesn’t make it non-toxic 

Hyland’s Teething Tablets are homeopathic tablets used to help soothe pain caused by teething. Some parents swear by these magic little guys to bring relief to their little one, but in 2011 a new formula was released after the FDA uncovered inconsistent amounts of belladonna in the tablets. Belladonna is a toxic plant and eating a small amount of its leaves or berries may be fatal. That being said, the belladonna plant is used for multiple medical purposes – it is included in the drops used to dilate your eyes, and is used (combined with other medicinal substances) to treat Parkinson’s disease, the flu, and stomach ulcers. The thing you cannot forget is just because something is natural doesn’t mean it is non-toxic, and practically anything – found in nature or not – in excessive doses could be dangerous.

• Just because it is child resistant doesn’t mean it is childproof

Imagine, you’re cooking at the stove and you hear, “Mommy, this candy is yucky.” You whip your head around to find your toddler holding your prescription pain medication bottle in one hand and a little white pill in the other. Fifteen minutes later you’re standing in the ER trying to figure out how a mama who made all of their baby food from organic fruits and veggies and baby-proofed the entire house while seven months pregnant managed to end up with a medicine bottle, not only within reach of her toddler, but where they could actually get it opened. Just because the lid is child-resistant, it doesn’t make it child-proof so keep those medications locked in a cabinet.

Outdoor Chemicals

Even if you keep your bug sprays , fertilizers, and rat repellents outside, doesn’t mean you can leave them unlocked. Keep them on a tall shelf or store them locked away in a tool box. If you are spraying repellents around your home, spray right before you leave to be away for a good amount of time to avoid someone inhaling or getting into the chemicals.

CO Detectors and Appliances

Carbon monoxide poisoning is more common than we’d like to think and, unfortunately, since there’s no scent and the symptoms are flu-like, it can be too late when we realize what’s happening. Installing a battery-operated CO detector helps alert you of possible dangers, and having your heating system, water heater, and any other wood, gas, coal, or oil burning appliances properly checked and maintained by a qualified technician will help detect the danger early or keep dangers away altogether.

Batteries and Magnets

Every toy for sale now seems to make plenty of noise that is energized by batteries. It’s easy to fling them in a drawer since it seems like you’re constantly having to chase down another AA – but don’t. Batteries are full of chemicals, and the small batteries, like AAA or coin batteries, are easy to swallow. During digestion, the casing on batteries can corrode and leak toxic acid into your body.

How to Get Help

If a child should ever ingest any chemicals, medication, or anything you’re unsure about, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222. Some people fear that calling Poison Control to notify them of their child ingesting something toxic could get them in trouble with child protective services, but that’s not true. The Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects all calls to Poison Control and means they are not allowed to share your personal information with the police department or CPS. The safety of you and your family is too valuable, so always call even if you’re unsure.

If you are ever in need of help to make sure your heating appliances are safe, please call Pardee Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning at 843-410-6103 to schedule an appointment. Have a safe and healthy Poison Prevention Week.

To find out more about poison prevention and read how you can make your home safer, visit http://www.poisonprevention.org/ or go to these other resources:

• Poison Help: http://poisonhelp.hrsa.gov/index.html
• Poison Prevention Tips: http://poisonhelp.hrsa.gov/what-can-you-do/prevention-tips/
• American Association of Poison Control Centers: http://www.aapcc.org/prevention/home/
• Home Safety Council Poison Prevention Checklist: http://www.sanfordnc.net/fire/forms/PoisonChecklist.pdf