Woman’s Voice: The Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition is a diverse group of dedicated community members united around the goal of reducing substance use in Lenawee County. LSAPC members work collaboratively to engage and educate the community in order to promote a healthy Lenawee.
Kathy Williams: I’m Kathy Williams and with me on tonight’s program is Tim Kelly. And Tim works at the LISD, but tonight he’s wearing his Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition hat. He is the Prevention and Education subcommittee chair. Tim, we’re going to be talking about the October 23rd Drug Take-Back event.
Tim Kelly: Yeah. Hopefully everybody can come join us on that day out at ProMedica Hickman Hospital.
Kathy Williams: Yeah. We’re going to be there that Saturday from 8:30… Well, the remote’s from 8:30 to noon, but the drop-off is actually from 10 o’clock to two o’clock I believe.
Tim Kelly: Yes. 10 o’clock to 2 o’clock around back of the building. Just follow the signs.
Kathy Williams: Back where they do the COVID test.
Tim Kelly: Right.
Kathy Williams: Tim, you know, we want to kind of give people an idea of how to gear up for this. We had a great turnout in April, and have you started looking for where all your drugs are hidden in your house?
Tim Kelly: Yeah, and unfortunately I’ve had to look for them lately. I had a little bit of a cold and quite frankly, had to search in a number of places. You know, you go in your bathroom – that seems pretty natural.
Kathy Williams: Yep.
Tim Kelly: But you know, in the vanity… I think I found some pills in my linen closet that were definitely expired. But also kitchen cabinets or in your glove box of your car are all pretty common places people keep their, their meds.
Kathy Williams: Well, yeah. And, and as women who never survive with only one handbag, so…
Tim Kelly: Oh yeah.
Kathy Williams: I know last time I went through probably three different purses, I found, you know, just a lot of allergy medications in those that who knows how long they had been there. So it, you know, that’s, that’s one of the things that we’d like people to get going with now, because they’ve got plenty of time. Look through those cupboards, look through those drawers, and you know, help other people gather their drugs that have been outdated or, you know, aren’t being used anymore. Help them get those together.
Tim Kelly: Yeah. Go to grandma’s house.
Kathy Williams: Yes.
Tim Kelly: If you get an aunt or somebody can help them to go through those, because there are many that you just really don’t realize have expired.
Kathy Williams: Right.
Tim Kelly: And those can be pretty dangerous to mix with other meds or, or ineffective at the, at the best, you know, they, they just don’t work any longer. So, need to get those out of there.
Kathy Williams: Exactly. And you know, and it’s not just prescription things. It’s vitamins even. Last time for April, I couldn’t believe how many supplements I had bought, you know, years ago when you’re going to go on some crazy diet and then you didn’t do it after two weeks. And so all those supplements were still left. Those can be brought to the Drug Take-Back as well.
Tim Kelly: Yes they can, as well as the, the ointments or topical things that people put on rashes or things like that.
Kathy Williams: Right.
Tim Kelly: Inhalers: those things, you just don’t think are medicine per se, but they are.
Kathy Williams: They are.
Tim Kelly: So they, and they expire and you can bring them out there on that day and dispose of them.
Kathy Williams: You know, and we’re coming into “flu season”. How many people have old cough medicine that they should not be saving for this season? They should be refreshing those things.
Tim Kelly: Absolutely. Those things, and those can actually be harmful to keep around.
Kathy Williams: Right.
Tim Kelly: So yeah, definitely we’ll be able to take those back on Drug Take-Back Day. Sharps as well, any needles. We know that last April, we had a lot of those returned and, and those are, you know, something are kind of hard to get rid of typically, but on the 23rd, we’ll be able to take any of those back too.
Kathy Williams: Something else that we didn’t, I don’t know that we got a lot of, but veterinary medications. You know, pills that you’ve got for your, for your pet, that, you know, you ended up changing, you know, same thing with humans – you ended up changing the medication halfway through because one thing wasn’t working. So you got something else… So those are probably laying around somewhere too…
Tim Kelly: Yeah.
Kathy Williams: Like maybe in the garage or, you know, in a little cubby somewhere.
Tim Kelly: Yeah. Thanks for reminding me of that. I do, I do have some dog medicines that I need to get rid of that are right outside the garage. Yep, good.
Kathy Williams: Yeah. And you know, maybe if you have a vet that you deal with, you could, you know, remind your veterinarian that this we’d love taking those expired drugs from the vet clinics as well.
Tim Kelly: Yeah. Great. Yeah, we can do that.
Kathy Williams: So. It’s just a, it’s just a good way of course, to get rid of things you shouldn’t have, clean up those cupboards and you’ll find all kinds of great usable space.
Tim Kelly: Yeah.
Kathy Williams: And you know, help protect yourselves, your family, and the environment at the same time.
Tim Kelly: Yes, absolutely. We, we really look forward to people coming out on the 23rd and, and bringing any and everything they can find it. You know, you mentioned supplements and vitamins. Those things are, are things we just do leave, sit thinking “they’re always going to be good” and they do expire just like anything else.
Kathy Williams: They do. So again, the Drug Take-Back Day this October is on October 23rd. It’s at ProMedica Hickman Hospital. And we look forward to seeing a lot of people there. And a lot of interesting donations. All right, thanks Tim.
Tim Kelly: Thank you!
Woman’s Voice: Thank you for listening. This information has been provided by the Lenawee Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition. Supported by funding from the Health Resources and Services Administration. New messages air on the first and third Monday of each month at 6:15 p.m. You can listen to this program as a podcast under the audio tab on WLEN.com and listen and gather more information at DrugPreventionLenawee.com.
