Operation Medicine Cabinet™

Home Instead Senior Care’s Operation Medicine Cabinet

Will Help Protect Local Seniors by Disposing of Old Meds

The Northern Michigan office of Home Instead Senior Care has scheduled Operation Medicine CabinetTM on November 6th from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm to help seniors dispose of expired or no longer used medications. The event will be held at the Holiday Inn, 615 E. Front Street, Traverse City.

Seniors or their family members can bring medications to the drop off site and safely dispose of them. The Grand Traverse Sheriff Office and Traverse City Police Department will be on hand to oversee the drop-off of medications into secured containers. After the event, the medications will be incinerated to eliminate any contamination to our watershed or waterways. Other co-sponsors of the event are the Holiday Inn – Traverse City, Life Story Funeral Home, Great Lakes Pet Memorial and Crematory, and The Prescription Shop.

“This program is a way to help protect seniors from accidentally using expired medications as well as safeguarding them from the potential for theft of medications from their homes,” said Janis Russell of the Home Instead Senior Care local office. “The project also can help protect the environment including pets and other animals by providing a safe way to dispose of prescription drugs before they are introduced into landfills or the water supply.”

The average senior takes four to six different prescriptions a day and refills their prescriptions 12 to 17 times a year, according to the health-care company Arcadia Healthcare. Furthermore, 28 percent of geriatric hospitalizations are attributed to adverse reactions, the group said.

In conjunction with law enforcement agencies, Home Instead Senior Care franchise owners are launching Operation Medicine Cabinet throughout North America.

“Considering such a significant impact on seniors and society, Grand Traverse Sheriff Office considers our donation of time for the project an important community service,” said Lieutenant James MacKinnon. After the medications are collected, they will be weighed before they are destroyed.

Home Instead Senior Care’s Operation Medicine Cabinet is a program of Home Instead Senior Care. For more information about the project, contact Janis Russell or Eva Gregwer at 231.421.5550.

To learn more about Home Instead Senior Care, log on to www.homeinstead.com/715