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Ubiquity Global Services bringing hundreds of call center jobs to Hanover Twp.

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Art work of Lorraine Petyo Elias on exhibit at Something special in Kingston

<p>Check your medicine cabinets this week</p><p>Every spring we turn our clocks forward and hear messages encouraging us to check our smoke detector batteries. Doing these routine tasks seem mundane, but there&#8217;s another task pharmacists want people to get into a habit of doing: Clearing their medicine cabinets.</p><p>Whether it&#8217;s over-the-counter medications or left-over prescriptions, all those medications can quickly accumulate and possibly fall into the wrong hands. That increases the risk of abuse or making someone sick.</p><p>Saving unused meds for &#8220;next time&#8221; or for someone else&#8217;s use are very bad ideas. Never use medication prescribed for someone else. Interactions among other drugs taken, allergies, doses, medical conditions and other characteristics must be taken into account when medications are used &#8230; it&#8217;s hard enough for professionals to get it perfect, it&#8217;s nearly impossible for you to be safe and accurate without guidance.</p><p>This Saturday, April 27, is the nationwide Medication Take-Back Day. It&#8217;s a coordinated effort of pharmacies and national and local law enforcement to encourage people to take a look at what is inside those medicine and bathroom cabinets and get rid of expired or unused medications. Geisinger&#8217;s pharmacy team is using this spring&#8217;s nationwide medication take-back day as a springboard to get people into the habit of clearing out the expired or unused medications they might have inside their homes.</p><p>Geisinger has developed a Medication Take-Back Team that leads a coalition of dedicated health care professionals to elevate the importance of reducing the impacts of unused, unwanted and expired medications on public health, including drug addiction and environmental impacts.</p><p>Since the 2012 launch of this medication take-back program, it has grown to now include 38 medication take-back sites and spans 15 counties in central and northeastern Pennsylvania. To date, the program has collected 18,515 pounds of medication. In 2018 alone, its tack-back locations collected 6,202 pounds of medication.</p><p>Utilizing a medication take-back box is the safest way to dispose of medications. The boxes are secure, with all medications collected and sent to a location for thermal destruction.</p><p>Letting medications accumulate at home can lead to a number of issues, including perhaps allowing those medications to fall into the wrong hands. Drug addiction, specifically with opioids, remains a severe public health issue nationwide, and allowing those types of medications to remain in a home when they are no longer being used is dangerous. Additionally, there is the risk of young child or pet getting into medication and becoming sick. Letting expired medications around can also make someone sick, plus expired medications lose their potency over time.</p><p>Additionally, disposing of medications properly helps the environment. Flushing medications down a toilet or throwing them into the trash can cause contamination and impact the health of ecosystems and particularly waterways. Most waste treatment plants can&#8217;t eliminate all medications from flushed waste and therefore chemicals, including hormones can get into rivers and streams and affect fish and other wildlife.</p><p>Prescription and over-the-counter solid medications, tablets and capsules, liquid medications in the original containers, prescription patches, medical creams and ointments, vitamins, nasal sprays and even pet medications are all accepted in medication take-back boxes. Narcotics and controlled substances are also welcome, as the boxes are secure. If possible, leave prescriptions in their original bottles.</p><p>There are a number of items not accepted in take-back boxes, including intravenous solutions, injectables, syringes, needles, hydrogen peroxide, compressed cylinders or aerosols (like asthma inhalers), iodine-containing medications, thermometers or alcohol.</p><p>Many local police departments are accepting medication take backs and in Northeast Pennsylvania some sites include Harrold&#8217;s Pharmacy in Wilkes-Barre, Care Site Pharmacies in Dallas, Kistler Clinic, Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center, Weiss Markets #152 in Nanticoke, Weis Market #156 in Duryea and Geisinger Clinics at Mt. Pleasant and Mount Pocono, as well as Geisinger Community Medical Center.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Alfred Casale</p><p>To Your Health</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Dr. Alfred Casale, a cardiothoracic surgeon, is associate chief medical officer for Geisinger and chair of the Geisinger Heart Institute. Readers may write to him via ae@www.timesleader.com.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Saturday is ‘Medication Take-Back Day’