Norton Children’s expert discusses importance of safe storage

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) - Roughly 50,000 young children are taken to emergency rooms each year after taking medicine not meant for them. Norton Healthcare wants to help parents avoid that scary situation by offering a class on safe storage.

Norton Children’s alone treats hundreds of kids each year for ingestion, with about 400 cases seen so far in 2023. They say about half of those involve child-resistant packaging.

Incidents include kids taking medicines, supplements, or edibles they aren’t supposed to. This can cause serious injuries, overnight stays and in extreme cases, death, according to Norton Children’s Prevention and Wellness team.

The group will offer its “Safe Kids, Safe Storage” class virtually for the first time Monday night, hoping to educate families and ultimately decrease the number of cases seen each year.

“A lot of it isn’t because parents are giving it to these kids, they’re just not aware of the correct way to store these items,” Alex Passamonte with Norton said. “So that’s what this class is, it’s education on how to store these items, the best place to put them no matter where you live.”

The class will also address ways to store firearms safely.

The class is free for participants and will be held Monday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. People must pre-register for the free program online through the Norton Children’s website.

All participants will have a medicine storage bag and gunlock shipped to their home for free.

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