Authored by BlueAngel on
Saturday, May 15, 2004
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Which of Your Neighbor's Drugs Did You Take Today? <
A couple of weeks ago your neighbors, John and Mary,
cleaned out their cabinets, closets and drawers. They followed
instructions and flushed all their old prescriptions down the
commode.
Those medications made their way through the sewer system
to the local waste water disposal plant. There, the antibiotics
that John never finished (shame on him) dissolved nicely and
mixed with the antibiotics flushed by everyone else in town.
These antibiotics, prescribed to kill bacteria, continued to do
their killing job on the beneficial bacteria in the system
responsible for breaking down waste.
They then drifted through the system until they were discharged
back into the environment and, eventually, into your glass of
water.
One of Mary's medications contained a mercury compound.
The treatment plant wasn't designed to remove this kind of
heavy metal from water, so mercury traveled into the natural
food chain when the plant released its treated water. The fish you
ate last night had a trace of Mary's medicine. So will the chicken
you're cooking tonight.
How to get rid of medications is becoming a real issue for us
consumers. Waste water treatment plants aren't designed to
capture many medications, so they can pass through the system
intact - ending up right back in the clean water we use every
day. Or, like mercury, they can be converted to organic
toxins that eventually end up in food sources. Not good.
The alternative of putting medications in the garbage isn't
palatable for most of us, either. It's too easy for children or
animals to get hold of something they shouldn't.
So, what's a person to do?
I've done some fairly extensive research on this nagging
question, and here is a summary of what several experts
recommend at the moment:
1. Many municipalities have a Household Hazardous Waste
collection program. If your town or city has one, double-
bag and store your old, outdated medications safely out of
the reach of children until you can deliver them to your
collection point and they can be properly disposed of.
2. Many of the larger pharmacy chains have started disposal
programs. Check with your pharmacist.
3. If neither of these options is available to you, the preferred
option still seems to be using the landfill, where medications
will have less opportunity to move directly and immediately
into our water systems.
In order to minimize the risk that an animal or person
might access medicines in the trash, there are a few extra
steps you can take:
> Keep everything in its original container. The label may
have safety information, and the container is probably water-
tight and "childproof."
> Add a little water to solid drugs and recap. Add a little
flour, sawdust, or kitty litter to liquids before recapping.
This will discourage sampling.
> Double-wrap the drugs in a bag or other waste container
so they can't be identified as drugs and to keep glass
from breaking.
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The following is a true story. The aide in question says she'll
never again give care in a house where the pets aren't either
in a birdcage or in a fishbowl.
> Man's Best Friend <
"You'll never have to worry about the dog," Marjorie told the
home care agency. Before you come on Tuesdays and
Fridays I'll put him in the back yard. He's been a great
comfort for my husband, and he's trained to protect us. He
wouldn't allow a stranger in here, so we never worry about
our safety."
Marjorie, age 78, had finally agreed to have some
professional help taking care of her husband, Dick, who
couldn't get out of his chair without help. Harvey, age 6 -
large, black and over 100 lbs., was the third member of the
family. Harvey was devoted to both Marjorie and Dick, and
he was especially protective of Marjorie. He really didn't care
much for strangers. After he growled at their manager, the
agency agreed to send an aide twice a week only if Harvey was
safely locked outside.
Things went well for quite some time. One day, however,
when the aide arrived, Marjorie didn't answer the door.
And it was obvious that Harvey, right on the other side
of the door, wasn't interested in having visitors.
The aide retreated to her car and called the house from her
cell phone. No answer.
Being an enterprising person, she then went around and tried
to look inside through the windows. Harvey followed, window
to window, barking and snarling.
When she came to the den, she could see the back of Dick's
head as he sat in his chair. She couldn't see Marjorie.
Another call to the phone in the house with the same result -
nothing.
She called her agency. They told her to stay put, and they
would call 911, as something appeared to be seriously wrong.
Minutes later, emergency personnel arrived and tried the door.
By this time, Harvey sounded completely out of control.
The police, no more interested in being attacked by a dog than
the aide was, split up. One went around to a back window,
while the second stayed at the front door and knocked loudly.
This kept the dog at the door, while the second officer broke
the back window. At the sound of breaking glass, Harvey
charged the second officer, who was forced to shoot him.
They found Marjorie near the front door where she had fallen,
and where Harvey had been protecting her with every ounce
of his being, just as he had been trained to do.
She's recovering from the stroke that kept her from calling out,
but she'll probably never recover from the trauma of what
happened to Harvey, and what could have happened to the aide,
that day.
The benefits of having a pet have been proven in study after
study. Lower blood pressure, increased well-being,
unconditional love...animals can and do give all of these things
to their people.
But a dog, especially, can present challenges if something
happens to a family member and strangers need to get into the
house. If you or your elder have an animal who isn't socialized
to allow strangers into the house, this could present a real
danger for emergency personnel...or neighbors...who are
trying to help.
Assess the potential for danger from animals now, before there
is a problem that could endanger helpers, or the animal. If you
have concerns, have the animal assessed by a professional.
Perhaps a good training school can intervene.
Then again, perhaps it's time to find a new home for the dog
now, before it's too late.
-----------------------<<< >>>------------------------
Speaking of pets, do you have contingency plans for your pets
in case of emergency? If you should fall down a manhole, get
hit by a bus, or otherwise be out of commission, does anyone
know you have pets? Will they starve to death, or simply poop
all over, before someone comes to see about them?
How about your elder's pets?
All pet owners should at least have a wallet card and something
posted prominently at home with the names of pets, their
descriptions, their usual locations (where do they hide?), the
name of their veterinarian, a list of any medications they are
taking, and who to contact about them in an emergency. The contact
person should be acquainted with your pets, and be willing to
step in if needed (does he or she have a key?).
-----------------------<<< >>>------------------------
"Aging seems to be the only available way to live a long life."
- Daniel Francois Esprit Auber -
-----------------------<<< >>>------------------------
That's it for this time. Remember, there's no such thing as a
dumb question or a silly question. If you have a question,
guaranteed a whole bunch of other people have the same
question. Email me your questions and I'll do my best to
answer. I'll post the answers here to questions I think a
lot of Eldercare Matters readers would be interested in
(without any identifying information, of course).
'Till next time,
Molly
-----------------------<<< >>>------------------------
Molly Shomer
Head Coach
The Eldercare Team
http://www.eldercareteam.com
mshomer@eldercareteam.com
Box 700291
Dallas, TX 75370
(972) 395-7823
-----------------------<<< >>>------------------------
© 2004 Molly Shomer, All rights reserved. You are free to
use material from Eldercare Matters as long as you include
complete attribution, including live web site link and email
link. I would appreciate it if you would let me know where
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