Health and Water Safety Go Hand In Hand
Did you know that the 6th leading cause of death, at least in the United States, is due to medication-related safety? Not many people would answer yes to this question. To help improve awareness of the issue and reduce risk, the Women’s Heart Foundation has sponsored a Medication Safety Week, this year running from April 1st -7th.
During this week, various programs throughout the country provide advice regarding how to safely keep and take prescribed or over the counter medications. Some of the most commonly given pieces of advice include the following safety precautions:
- Clean out your medicine cabinet. Make sure that everything that is in it is up to date and not expired. If you end up throwing some away PLEASE don’t flush them! This is the quickest way to contaminate everyone’s drinking water!
- Know what medications you take. Keep a list with you in case you need to seek emergency care and a friend or loved one must provide the information to a doctor.
- Read medicine labels carefully. You should know how to properly store and take whatever medications have been prescribed to you.
- Communicate with your doctor and/ or pharmacist if you have any questions. Be aware of what, if any, foods or other medications interfere with what you are taking. Also, don’t be afraid to be an advocate for your own health if you feel the drug being prescribed is inappropriate.
Medications taken by mouth are often taken with liquids, most commonly milk or water. It is important, then, to also consider safety when choosing what to drink. Be sure that you are following your medication’s label instructions in regards to what beverage to take along with it and make sure the source of the beverage is safe.
Many people, especially elderly individuals, are not aware of whether or not their water is completely safe to drink. Even in areas that are supplied by city water, harmful bacteria or other toxins can inadvertently make their way into drinking water and cause serious health problems. To help prevent possible contamination, drink water that has been filtered through a reverse osmosis drinking water system. If you take medication with water several times a day, it is especially critical that you are drinking the purest, cleanest water available as health and water safety go hand in hand.
