Grandparents play an important role in the lives of their grandchildren — from being playmates, to giving encouragement and life advice, to helping out as a caretaker or babysitter. Nearly 70 percent of grandparents take care of their grandchildren on a regular basis or see their grandchildren at least once a week, according to the American Grandparents Association.
Those who host their grandchildren in their own home, however, should be aware of potential dangers — and one of the most common is leaving medications where they are easy to access. In fact, in three out of four emergency room visits for medicine poisoning, a child got into medicine belonging to a parent or grandparent, according to Safe Kids World Wide, a global organization dedicated to preventing unintentional injuries in children.
Dr. Rallie McAllister, a family physician in Lexington, Kentucky, and co-author of “The Mommy MD Guide to the Toddler Years,” said that thousands of children in the U.S. are seen annually in emergency rooms for accidental medication exposures, which can be fatal. The typical scenario involves a curious child finding and ingesting unsecured medication.
“In almost 40 percent of cases, the medication belonged to a grandparent, and the medication was left in a purse or bag, a pillbox, or on a counter or nightstand,” McAllister said. “It only takes a moment for children to find and swallow medication that can put their lives in danger. Parents and grandparents can protect the lives of the children they love by ensuring that all prescription and over-the-counter medicines in their homes are stored safely and securely.”
Families, and grandparents especically, should consider the following steps to ensure their medications are not available to their grandchildren:
• Keep medicines up high and out of sight of children. The orange plastic container medications often come in can be bright and appealing to children, and may look like a toy that makes noise when shaken, or a fun game with pieces that can easily go straight into the mouth.
• Be absolutely sure the bottle is closed and secure with a safety lock. Seniors on a regular schedule of taking meds may be tempted to leave bottle tops loose for easy access each time the medicine needs to be taken — but that’s not OK if children are around.
• Lock up your medication in a designated spot. There are devices that make this easy. Med-Master, for example, offers medication-storage solutions that feature locking options such as a 3-digit combination lock or a wireless battery-operated lock to maximize security. — brandpoint media