® © 2013 National Safety Council Unintentional Medication Poisoning In Very Young Children Support for this project was provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, under contract number M

© 2013 National Safety Council 2 Unsupervised Ingestions Each year more than 60,000 young children are treated in emergency departments after getting into medicine while adults were not looking In recent years, the number of accidental overdoses in young children has increased by 20 percent.

© 2013 National Safety Council 3 Prevention Children are curious and put all sorts of things in their mouths. Unsupervised ingestions are preventable Safe medicine storage must be practiced to prevent unsupervised ingestions by young children

© 2013 National Safety Council 4 Safe Practice Tips Store medicine in a safe location that is too high to reach or see Always put every medicine and vitamin away every time you use it Always relock the safety cap on a medicine bottle Tell children what medicine is

© 2013 National Safety Council 5 Safe Practice Tips Never tell children medicine is candy, even if they do not like to take medicine Remind babysitters, houseguests and visitors in your home to keep purses, bags or coats that have medicines in them up and away and out of sight

© 2013 National Safety Council 6 Safe Practice Tips Program the Poison Help number into your home and cell phones so you have it in case of an emergency:

© 2013 National Safety Council 7 Reminders for Adults Suggestions to help adults remember to take their medicine and vitamins when no longer in plain view: Write yourself a note and put it where you will see it Set a daily reminder for yourself

© 2013 National Safety Council 8 Reminders for Adults Take your medicine and vitamins at the same time every day, if possible Use a medicine log to keep track each time you take or give medicine

© 2013 National Safety Council 9 Simple Steps It is up to adults to make safe medicine storage a priority A few simple steps, done every time, can protect our children

© 2013 National Safety Council 10 Additional Resources The PROTECT Initiative otect_initiative.html Up and Away and Out of Sight reationalSafety/Poisoning/Pages/Up-and- Away.aspx Support for this project was provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, under contract number M

© 2013 National Safety Council 11 Who is NSC? Our Mission: The National Safety Council saves lives by preventing injuries and deaths at work, in homes and communities, and on the roads through leadership, research, education and advocacy.