Q. My teenaged son was over at my parents’ house visiting when he called me in a panic. My mom had mistaken the glass that contained her Efferdent denture cleaning for her glass of Alka-Seltzer and drank it. Both were tablets that fizzed, and she had put them side by side on the kitchen counter. My son didn’t know what to do, so I quickly called poison control. It turned out that everything was okay, but it got me thinking about how easily my elderly parents could mistake household cleaners for something edible. My mom has some memory loss, and my dad’s vision is declining. Do you have any advice to help us avoid another call to poison control?
A. I’m impressed that you thought to call poison control so quickly and I’m glad to hear that your mom is okay. Your concern is something that most adult children don’t even think to address with their aging parents, so thank you for bringing it to our attention. In your case, your mom was fine. Should she have ingested household cleaner, you might have had a different outcome.
Just as parents of small children need to childproof their home for the safety of their children, seniors need to safeguard their homes to prevent harming themselves. Start by writing the number for poison control in bold and place it near the telephone. Then, program the phone number into everyone’s contact list on their cellphones and home phones.
Next, find a central location that can be locked for all household cleaners. You can contain them all in a bucket so that they can be carried room to room when needed. Avoid keeping household cleaners in the pantry or kitchen, as another safeguard against harmful ingestion. Storing household cleaners under the kitchen sink is acceptable, if the cabinet is locked. Locking up chemicals is just a precaution. Some seniors might think that this is too much, but it just takes one second to mistake a harmful chemical for a refreshing drink.
Speaking of household cleaners, refrain from making your own, unless you only use edible ingredients, such as baking soda and vinegar. Homemade cleaners are often stored in generic, plain bottles. Even if you do label them, the print can fade with time or rub off easily, leaving the bottle unidentifiable. Stick to household cleaners with bold labels.
Don’t forget to evaluate where your parents store their medication, both prescription and over-the-counter. Most pills can be easily mistaken for candy. Store all medication in one location and keep them in a location away from the kitchen. Again, make sure each medication is clearly labeled. While you’re at it, you can write proper dosages in large, bold print on the containers. Most over-the-counter medicines are written in small print and can be difficult to understand. Safeguard your parents from overdosing by making sure they can see and follow the guided dosage recommendations.
Remember that with age, seniors begin to lose their sense of smell and their vision can become blurry. What smells obviously to us as a harmful chemical can smell faintly like juice to a senior. What we see as poison, such as Windex or superglue, can look like mouthwash or eye drops. And never hesitate to call poison control; it’s better to be safe than suffer harm because of feeling embarrassed.
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