Do you have expired or unused medications at home? If so, have you ever wondered what to do with them?
Between now and April 23, Hill’s Drug Store and Hill’s Clinic Pharmacy will be running a public awareness campaign with the goal of ensuring Portage la Prairie and area residents know how to properly dispose of pharmaceutical pills, creams and liquids.
Styled “Take Back Days”, the initiative will see both the Drug Store at 200 Saskatchewan Ave E and Clinic Pharmacy at 140-9th St SE promote their stores as “take-back” locations for medications that are no longer required.
For the long-time business, it’s all about helping keep the community safe.
“We want to help keep the community in which we live and work in the best possible condition,” says Rhonda Kitchen, Hill’s co-owner. “For Take Back Days we’re highlighting a service that we want the community to use, and ultimately get the word out to more people.”
Kitchen explains that all old and expired or unused medications, from pills and capsules to creams and liquids, can be brought to either Hill’s location, where the items will be properly disposed of. She adds that Take Back Days encompasses all medications, including over-the-counter, natural products, prescriptions and medicines for a pet, and points out that Hill’s is happy to take back these medications year-round.
“When you have unnecessary prescription medications at home, they can fall into the wrong hands and even lead to potential misuse and abuse,” she says. “It’s important to clean out medicine cabinets that have an overstock of medications that are expired or just no longer used.”
Misuse, she explains, can happen innocently and inadvertently. A child, for example, could consume something they shouldn’t, and a senior or other adult could become confused and take the wrong medication or an incorrect dose. And current, otherwise safe medications should always be stored out of reach, securely in a dry, cool environment.