More tips on Poison Control Awareness Week

Safety tips at home:

• More than 90 percent of poisonings happen in people's homes, mainly in the kitchen or bathroom.
• Keep all medicines, household cleaners and garden chemicals up high where children can't see or reach them.
• Never store household cleaning products in containers looking like cups or bottles
• Never mix household cleaning products together. Mixing them can cause poisonous gas
• Swallowing a button battery can be deadly for a child. Call right away if a battery is missing from an electronic.

Spotlight on Prescription painkillers:

• The FDA is calling prescription drug abuse an "Epidemic". Prescription painkillers are responsible for a lot of addiction and abuse
• Get rid of prescription painkillers when you are finished with them. (you can take them to your local fire department or police station-no questions asked)
• If you are currently using presciption painkillers, lock them up so you are the only one that can use them.
• Prescription painkiller abuse does not draw boundaries, This epidemic hits the young, old, women and men and all income levels.

General Tips:

• Buy products in child-resistant packaging whenever possible. But remember, child-resistant is not childproof. They are designed to keep children away from the product for a short time period.
• Tell children what medicine is and why you are giving it to them.
• Never leave medicine out on a kitchen counter or at a sick child's bedside
• Always turn the light on when giving or taking medicine. Check the dosage every time.
• Clean out medicine cabinets periodically
• Use the measuring device that the medicine came with, not a kitchen spoon for instance
• Never share or sell your prescription medication
• Keep medicines in there original bottles or containers wherever possible. If you transfer medication to a different container, put in a high place where children can not see or reach the medication
• Laundry products labels contain first aid information and are valuable resource for consumers
• Teach children that laundry and cleaning solutions are not toys.
• Store food in a separate area than cleaning products and chemicals
• While working with chemicals wear protective clothing, goggles, gloves, etc
• Keep Magnetic toys and other magnetics items away from small children.
• Install carbon monoxide detectors in your home. One in every area of the home
• If calling poison control have the bottle handy to read all information for Poison Control

Tips on Poison Control Prevention Week

This week we will be giving you several tips and facts about Poison Control Prevention Week. We hope that this information is a great reminder on how to keep our children safe.

Children Act Fast....So do Poisons

• Over 50% of calls to poison centers involve children 6 Years and younger. Keep medicine locked up and out of reach
• Keep cleaning supplies and medicines locked up and away from children.
• When it comes to poison prevention, child-resistant is not child-proof. Layer the protection: re-seal, lock up, out of sign and reach
• Tell children what medicine is and why you must be the one to give it to them. Never call medicine "candy" to get them to take it
• Keep the Poison Control line number handy. Save it to your cell phone also

Poison Centers: Saving you Time and Money

• Poison centers are Fast, Confidential, and give expert medical advice 24/7 for free
• More than 90 percent of cases from the public can be managed over the phone without a hospital visit.
• Poison Centers save $1.8 billion a year by keeping people out of hospitals and getting them back to work and school sooner.

1-800-222-1222



 

 

 

National Poison Prevention Week March 16-24

This week is National Poison Prevention week. The purpose of this week is to remind everyone of the dangers of unintentional poisonings and how best to prevent poisonings in the first place.

The Utah Poison Control Center (UPCC) was established in 1954 and since that time has responded to more than 1 million calls for assistance. The UPCC is a program of the University of Utah College of Pharmacy. In 2013, the UPCC responded to over 46,000 calls for assistance. Of the potential poisonings, 61% of these cases involved children less than 6 years of age. The UPCC specialist in poison information were able to safely and effectively manage 76% of the poison exposures at home with telephone follow up. You can check out there website at www.utahpoisoncontrol.org or follow them on Facebook.

We are very grateful for this resource that we have in our community and thank all of those people that help keep our children safe. More to come this week about how to avoid having to call poison control.

Sleep: What Every Parent Needs to Know

Dr Jopling found this article and we thought it would help many sleepless nights!!

Sooner or later, most parents face challenges at bedtime. From infants and toddlers, to school-age kids and adolescents, sleep time problems can affect everyone in the family. And no matter what your child's difficulty may be – getting to sleep, staying asleep, bed-wetting, fears or nightmares -- it's never too late to take steps to correct it. As part of the series of parenting books from the AAP, Sleep: What Every Parent Needs to Know helps parents and caregivers better understand sleep, answering questions and examining conflicting theories in order to help make the best decisions for their families.

It is a great link so check it out!
Thanks to the AAP for helping us stay up to date on our kids!

How to prevent sickness? Handwashing!!

The number one question we always get is... "How can I avoid getting my children sick?" It is actually really simple and is the best thing you can do to help your child--Handwashing!

Article Body

How many times have you and your child washed your hands today?

You might not have given it much thought. It’s either part of your routine, done frequently without thinking, or maybe you don’t do it much at all. But as your pediatrician may have told you, hand washing may be the single most important act you and your child have for disease prevention.

Making It Habit

As early as possible, get your child into the habit of washing her hands often and thoroughly. All day long, your child is exposed to bacteria and viruses—when touching a playmate, sharing toys, or petting the cat. Once her hands pick up these germs, she can quickly infect herself by:

• Rubbing her eyes
• Touching her nose
• Placing her fingers in her mouth.

The whole process can happen in seconds, and cause an infection that can last for days, weeks, or even longer.

When To Wash

Hand washing can stop the spread of infection. The key is to encourage your child to wash her hands throughout the day. For example, help her or remind her to wash her hands:  

• Before eating (including snacks)  
• After a trip to the bathroom  
• Whenever she comes in from playing outdoors  
• After touching an animal like a family pet  
• After sneezing or coughing if she covers her mouth  
• When someone in the household is ill

Studies on hand washing in public restrooms show that most people don’t have very good hygiene habits. “Hand washing” may mean just a quick splash of water and perhaps a squirt of soap, but not nearly enough to get their hands clean.

Steps to Proper Hand Washing

So what does a thorough hand washing involve? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends the following steps:  

• Wet your child’s hands.  
• Apply clean bar soap or liquid soap to the hands, and then place the bar on a rack where it can drain before the next hand washing.  
• Rub the hands vigorously together. Scrub every surface completely.  
• Keep rubbing and scrubbing for 10 to 15 seconds to effectively remove the germs.  
• Rinse the hands completely, then dry them.

About Antibacterial Soaps

Drugstore shelves are full of trendy antibacterial soaps, but studies have shown that these antibacterial products are no better at washing away dirt and germs than regular soap. Some infectious disease experts have even suggested that by using antibacterial soaps, you may actually kill off normal bacteria and increase the chances that resistant bacteria may grow.
The best solution is to wash your child’s hands with warm water and ordinary soap that does not contain antibacterial substances (eg, triclosan). Regular use of soap and water is better than using waterless (and often alcohol-based) soaps, gels, rinses, and hand rubs when your child’s hands are visibly dirty (and with children, there usually is dirt on the hands!). However, when there is no sink available (eg, the car), hand rubs can be a useful alternative.

How Long to Wash

Keep in mind that although 10 to 15 seconds of hand washing sounds like an instant, it is much longer than you think. Time yourself the next time you wash your hands. Watch your child while she’s washing her hands to make sure she’s developing good hygiene behaviors. Pick a song that lasts for 15 seconds and sing it while you wash. Encourage your child to wash her hands not only at home, but also at school, at friends’ homes, and everywhere else. It’s an important habit for her to get into, and hopefully one that’s hard to break

Thanks to the AAP and www.healthychildren.org for this great article and reminder about washing hands! Good luck and hopefully spring is right around the corner!