March 11, 2025 in El Mirage Emergency Room, Health Tips

How Are You at Poison Prevention?

If you spend time around young kids, you’re probably well aware of the measures families take to keep their little ones safe in the home. Between the cupboard locks, coffee table corner padding, electrical outlet covers, and baby gates, it’s a wonder that children still manage to get accidentally injured; and yet, it happens all the time. In fact, according to injuryfacts.nsc.org, poisoning accounted for one of the top three in both preventable deaths and preventable injuries in 2022 and 2023.

Are you doing everything you can to keep yourself and your loved ones safe? Or could your poisoning prevention savvy use some improvement? In honor of National Poison Prevention Week, and to ensure you and your family are as safe as possible, we want to offer some important poisoning prevention tips; some of which might be new to you.

  1. Take care with medications

    While it’s common to seek medication during the night, an important precaution is, “if you can’t see it, don’t swallow it.” To ensure you’re taking the correct medication at the correct dosage, make sure you can clearly see and measure what you’re taking, or giving to someone else.

    Also, when taking multiple medicines, make sure you’re not mixing ingredients that shouldn’t interact, and that you’re not overdosing on certain medication ingredients.

  2. Take care with food

    Are your refrigerator and freezer running at the correct temperatures? Are you putting food away in a timely manner after preparing it? Have you made sure that all of the products in your cupboard don’t actually need to be refrigerated? Improperly preparing food, using food that has expired, or storing food at the incorrect temperature can lead to sickness due to the formation and ingestion of bacteria, parasites, viruses, or toxins.

  3. Take care with household products

    Avoid storing non-food items in food or drink containers. Not only can hazardous chemicals leach into containers and make them unsafe for future food-related use, but items in food containers are often mistaken for food items and accidentally ingested.

  4. Take care with where you store your lunch

    Have you closely examined your child’s lunch bag lately? Even a small amount of spilled food can harbor bacteria and make him or her sick. (Not to mention all the germs on the outside of the bag from grimy hands and floors!) At least twice per week, ensure that you clean the inside and outside of lunch bags. Do one wipe-down with a moderately wet/soapy towel, follow with an antibacterial wipe, and let dry thoroughly in the sun.

If you are concerned that you or your loved one could be poisoned, never hesitate to call National Poison Control at 800-222-1222, or come in to the El Mirage Emergency Room. We’re here for all your urgent health concerns 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. For concerns about poisoning, injuries, illness, and more, it’s always better to be safe than sorry, especially when it comes to the health of you and your family.

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