51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ

Spring Cleaning Comes Early

            51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ held a “Clean Out Your Cabinet” event to help students and the surrounding community to safely get rid of expired medications. Pills, capsules, and tablets, 51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ collected them all. It was the perfect chance for students to get a jump start on their spring cleaning while also being conscientious of their health.

            The event took place on Sunday, October 23rd outside the Harral Auditorium. Community Volunteers, the 51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ Police Department, and the City of Plainview Police Department were on duty from 10 am till 2 pm, managing drop-offs and helping with disposal. They monitored what came in and what went back out. Coralyn Dillard, Director of Health Services, led the event.

“51³Ô¹ÏÍøÊÓƵ Baptist University (WBU) works closely with the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to offer an opportunity for members of our community to Clean Out their Medicine Cabinet or closets and get rid of all unused or expired medications,” Dillard said. “We work with our local Police Department and Community Volunteers to oversee this event.”

            Although it would have been ideal to take all types of medication, the coordinators could not accept inhalers or liquids of any kind. However, used syringes were acceptable if placed in a Red Biohazard container. This was done to avoid contamination for everyone’s safety.

            These kinds of events are important for people to patriciate in to bring awareness to opioid addiction. Getting rid of unused or expired drugs help to reduce the rising crisis of this fixation. By participating, the community can protect not only themselves, but others too.

Cleaning out your medicine cabinet can also help avoid accidental poisoning. Expired medicine can be toxic, which can result in death.

“Storing these medications can be of danger to others if accessible to the wrong people,” Dillard said. “The Environmental Protection Agency would prefer that we NOT flush these drugs down the toilet or throw them in the trash.”

            This is important to remember not just for this event, but in general throughout the year. It is a healthy habit to continue. It is so easy to want to use old medicine instead of going to the doctors for the same problem. In the end, you are only helping yourself by doing this! Taking an hour out of your day to complete this will help you feel better in the future.