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 observe National Poison Prevention Week to bring awareness to the nearly two million poisonings that are reported each year, 90% of which are in the home. This year, National Poison Prevention Week is March 20^th through 26^th, just in time for spring cleaning. With spring making its appearance on day one of National Poison Prevention Week, this is the best time to talk about how to make your family’s home and indoor air quality safe as you clean.

Cleaning Products

Lock them up, put them up high, do whatever it takes to ensure tiny fingers and paws can’t reach your cleaning supplies. Installing child-safety locks on cabinets will help keep most children and pets away, but child-safe does not equal child-proof. Putting cleaning products up on a tall shelf or in an inaccessible cabinet is the safest way to help keep your young ones from accessing hazardous chemicals. Always leave your cleaners in the container it came in with the label intact to avoid any confusion and to make sure you are prepared if anything ever happens. Also, remember to run the fan and open windows while you clean to keep the chemicals from getting stuck in your breathing air.

CAUTION: A label that says “natural” does not make the product non-toxic – treat ALL cleaning products with extreme caution.

Medicines

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

• Natural does not mean non-toxic 

Hyland’s Teething Tablets are homeopathic tablets used to help soothe pain caused by teething. Some parents swear by these pain-fighting tablets to bring relief to their child, but over four years ago a new formula was created after the FDA found inconsistent amounts of belladonna in the tablets. This plant is toxic and eating small amounts of the belladonna leaves or berries may be fatal. That being said, this plant is used for many medical purposes – it is in the drops that dilate a person’s eyes, and is used (combined with other medicinal substances) to treat the flu, stomach ulcers, and Parkinson’s disease. The thing you cannot forget is just because something is natural doesn’t indicate that it is non-toxic, and practically anything – found in nature or not – in excessive doses could be dangerous.

• Just because something says child resistant doesn’t make it childproof

Imagine, you’re cooking dinner and you hear, “Mama, this candy doesn’t taste good.” You whip your head around to find your toddler holding your prescription bottle in one hand and a tiny white pill in the other. Ten minutes later you’re pacing in the ER thinking about how a mom who made all of their baby food from organic vegetables and baby-proofed the entire house while seven months pregnant managed to end up with a prescription bottle, not only in the vicinity of her little one, 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 up tight.

Outdoor Chemicals

Even though you keep your bug sprays , fertilizers, and rat repellents outside, doesn’t mean you can store them anywhere. Store them on a tall shelf or lock them up in a tool cabinet. If you are spraying anything around your home, do it right before you and your family are planning to be away for an extended amount of time to avoid people inhaling or getting into the chemicals.

CO Detectors and Appliances

Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs more often than we care to admit and, unfortunately, since there’s no odor 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 gas, oil, wood or coal burning appliances properly checked and maintained by a qualified technician will help detect the danger early or avoid it altogether.

Batteries and Magnets

Every toy on the shelf now seems to make plenty of noise that is powered by batteries. It’s easy to fling them in a drawer since it feels like you’re continuously having to track down another AA – but don’t. Batteries are filled with chemicals, and the tiny ones, like AAA or coin batteries, are easy to swallow. During digestion, the casing on batteries can become damaged and leak toxic acid into the body.

How to Get Help

If someone in your family should ever ingest any chemicals, medication, or anything you’re unsure about, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222. Some people worry that getting in touch with Poison Control to inform them of their child ingesting something dangerous could get them in trouble with child protective services, but that isn’t accurate. The Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects all calls to Poison Control and means they cannot share your personal information with CPS or police. The safety of you and your family is too valuable, so always call even if you’re unsure.

If you want help making sure your heating appliances are safe, please call R & M Climate Control Service Experts Heating & Air Conditioning at 865-229-6176 to schedule an appointment. Have a safe and healthy Poison Prevention Week.

To read more about poison prevention and read how you can make your family’s house 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