{sponsored} Put #MedsUpAway to Store Medicines Safely

As our kids get older, we tend to get a little more relaxed about safety as they move away from the baby stage but it’s always important to ensure that medicines are stored up out of reach for maximum safety. According to UpandAway.org over 60,000 young children end up in emergency departments every year because they got into medicines while their parent or caregiver wasn’t looking. Since June is National Home Safety Month, take stock of your family’s medicines and where they’re stored to ensure they’re up and away out of the reach of small hands.

Disclosure: I receive compensation as part of the CHPA OTC Safety Ambassador Program.  All the opinions reflected here are my own. 

As part of my work with the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA) OTC Safety Ambassador Program, I’m opening up my home to allow a peek inside our messy medicine cabinets to show you how we store or medicine up and away. We have multiple places in our home where we store our medicine for convenience but we always make sure that the containers are up and away out of easy reach of small hands.

My husband and I keep our medicines above the sinks of our master bathroom rather than in the drawers or under the sink where they could be accessed easily. Notice my nail polish obsession? Above all of my favorite bottles of polish and way up in the upper left corner of that cabinet are prescription meds that I’d never want to fall into the wrong hands.

Pain relief medicine and over the counter allergy meds for my two little seasonal allergy sufferers are kept in the kids’ bathroom with the dosing cups they came with to ensure they’re getting the proper dosage. Notice the shelf full of bandaids? They collect bandaids like I collect nail polish!

Downstairs in the kitchen we have another cabinet where we keep ibuprofen and acetaminophen because sometimes I can’t fathom walking up the stairs with a massive headache. Kids’ medicines are also kept here again, with the dosage cups that they came with. Hmm…Perhaps if I swapped the location of the wine glasses with the meds, my headaches would subside!

While you may be vigilant about keeping your family safe, keep in mind that summer travel can present additional risks that you might not have considered in a frenzy of packing and excitement of getting ready to go. Here are some helpful tips to ensure that you stay safe during your travels:

• Upon arriving at your destination, remove medicine from luggage that could be on the floor or on luggage racks and put it up and away.

• If visiting grandparents, remind them to put their medicines up and away before you arrive.

• When staying as a houseguest at friends’ and relatives’ homes, survey the environment and any potential risks and ask if you can relocate medicine while you’re staying in their home. Explain how keeping meds up and away helps keep everyone safe.

Now that you’ve had a peek into our home, OTCSafety.org is encouraging families to spread the word about safe medicine storage through their social channels. Take a photo of your safe medicine storage place and share it on Twitter or Instagram and tag it with #MedsUpAway or post your photo with a description on the OTCsafety Facebook page.