One Pill Took Maisie’s Life, How to make you home safer from accidental ingestion or overdose
Maisie was only nine months old when she passed.
She had just learned to crawl. At a gathering at a neighbor’s home, she delighted the room with as she scooted across the kitchen floor. Six adults, three of them doctors, watched her lovingly.
But a pill dropped and forgotten by a visiting relative, found its way into Maisie’s hand. Then into her mouth. Her parents put her to bed. She never woke up.
We don’t share that story lightly. It’s painful. But it’s common.
About 60,000 young children end up in emergency rooms due to unintentional medication ingestions. That’s roughly four school buses a day heading straight for the ER.
Rx Destroyer CEO and Founder, Milt Dallas said, “Our homes often have multigenerational visitors, kids visiting grandma, aunties and uncles stopping by, and those “just in case” pills in a nightstand or coat pocket become ticking time bombs. Maisie wasn’t in a drug house. She was at a family dinner. Then everything changed… think about that.”
Milt grew up on the Oneida Reservation in Wisconsin and created Rx Destroyer, a safe medication disposal company. Native communities struggle with the highest overdose rate in the United States. Young people in our nations are at risk and the change starts within our homes.
How to Make Your Home Safer Today
- Keep Meds, Up and Away – Store all meds out of sight, either in a locked drawer or a high cupboard.
- Lock It Up – Look for child-resistant packaging or consider a lock box.
- Watch the Purses and Pockets – Visitors often carry meds in purses or bags, provide a secure space for guests to store belongings.
- Never Keep Pills “Handy” – Place medications “back up” directly after use.
- Dose Carefully – When dispensing medication for children, only use dosing tools provided
- Teach and Prepare – Teach children to bring anything that look like medication to an adult. Keep the poison control number visible: 800-222-1222
Why Safe Disposal is Just as Critical
Maisie’s story is important; it could happen to anyone. Safe storage and safe drug disposal go hand in hand. Stockpiling medications for a rainy day puts our loved ones in harms way. Still, in remote areas drug takeback is scarce. Learn more about the Purple Light Project here.
Rx Destroyer provides environmentally friendly drug disposal for your home. Simply put pills in, seal the bottle and toss it in the common trash when full.
It starts with us, safe storage behaviors and medication disposal are steps towards a better future.
Explore a more detailed home-safety checklist here.
For more information visit https://www.rxdestroyer.com/
