MONTEREY COUNTY, Calif. - There's a new campaign to help show how dangerous it can be if children get their hands on medication.
In recognition of National Poison Prevention Week (March 17-23), Safe Kids Monterey County has introduced a new animated pill bottle.
The character is part of a national campaign designed to educate parents and caregivers about the risks of medication-related poisoning to children, according to a news release from Safe Kids Monterey County.
More than one million children ages 5 and under are accidentally poisoned each year and 90 percent of accidental poisonings happen in the home, according to the news release.
Safe Kids Monterey County would like to remind parents to keep the poison control hotline near every telephone and remind anyone taking care of the child to do the same: 800-222-1222.
Safe Kids Monterey County offers these additional tips:
· Store medications locked out of children's sight and reach. Don't leave medicine in your purse or an unlocked kitchen or bathroom cabinet and don't put it on a kitchen or bedside table. Never leave medicines or potentially poisonous household products unattended while you are using them and never leave out loose pills.
· Be safe when taking or administering medication. Always read labels, follow directions and give medicines to children based on their weights and ages. Only use the dispensers packaged with children's medications. Avoid confusion by keeping all medicines and potentially poisonous household products in their original packages.
· Don't refer to medicine or vitamins as candy. Children should not think of therapeutic substances as treats. Also, don't involve children as "helpers" with your medication. They should not remind you to take medicine or bring you water, for example.
· Discuss these precautions with grandparents and relatives. Grandparents may have medications that can be very dangerous of children, and their homes might not be as well childproofed as yours.
· Keep activated charcoal on hand to be used only on the advice of a poison control center or a physician. Ipecac syrup should no longer be used as a home treatment strategy.
For more information, call 759-6675 or visit www.usa.safekids.org.
