Grinnell Regional Medical Center and the Grinnell Police
Department are partnering to help properly dispose of prescription pills safely
and correctly. This community-wide initiative hopes to make homes safer by
preventing prescription medication abuse. It also helps prevent the consumption
of expired or inappropriate drugs. Anyone may bring medications for safe,
proper disposal between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26, at the Spring
Street side of the Grinnell Public Safety Building, 1020 Spring St.
“This is an important public health service for
residents. It’s good for patient safety and it’s good for the environment,”
says Lisa Hart, PharmD, GRMC pharmacist. “We also keep
information confidential so names are not linked to medications.”
To put some perspective on just how much unused
medicine is stored in homes, Americans turned in 552,161 pounds—276 tons—of
prescription drugs during last year’s nationwide initiative. Partaking in this
program will also aid in increasing community awareness regarding the
widespread abuse of prescription drugs that happens across the nation but often
goes unnoticed.
“This program aims to provide a safe, convenient, and
responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while also educating the
general public about the potential for abuse of medications. We are providing
curb-side drop off so an individual may simply drive up and hand the unwanted
medications in for disposal,” explains Fred Foreman with the Grinnell Police
Department.
The medications that are brought in during this
one-day national blitz will be incinerated. This is considered the safest
manner to dispose of medications.
GRMC will have a pharmacist available at the
collection as well as Grinnell police department officer. This program is free.
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