Chicago, IL 4/21/23– St. Bernard Hospital announced today it has established a convenient medication take-back program for easy disposal of leftover, unused and out-of-date prescription and over-the-counter medications.
To help reduce the risk of drugs in the home that can potentially harm children, teens or adults, St. Bernard Hospital has set up a secure, safe drop-off location nearby its two pharmacy locations. Receptacles are located in the main lobby of St. Bernard Hospital at 326 W. 64th Street and near the Ambulatory Care Center pharmacy at 6307 S. Stewart.
Unused medications in the home are a source of drug abuse in millions of homes, with the opioid crisis in the United States fueled in part by that availability: 47%* of misused prescription pain relievers are given by, bought from or taken from a friend or relative. On average, an American dies of a drug overdose every 5 minutes**.
“We want to provide the folks in our community with the safe, secure opportunity to clean out their medicine cabinets and make their homes and communities safer,” said Jennifer Atomah, Pharmacy Director at St. Bernard Hospital. “We want to remind people that they should not flush drugs down the toilet. Traces of drugs can appear in community drinking water. Our drug disposal unit, which is easily accessible in the pharmacy, is a great answer to that problem and is simple. All they do is just come in, look for the big green receptacle and take it from there. Drugs can be dropped off with no questions asked.”
“There are some things that can’t be taken in the receptacle, such as inhalers and needles, but pharmacy staff will be on hand to help determine what to do,” said Dr. Atomah. The collection receptacle will be accessible inside of the Ambulatory Care Center near the pharmacy and inside the main hospital’s pharmacy during regular business hours.
St. Bernard Hospital proudly partnered with Inmar Intelligence to manage this drug take-back program. The company has a long history as the industry leader in handling prescription and over-the-counter drug returns safely, securely and discreetly for major and regional chain drug stores as well as independent pharmacies and hospitals across the U.S.
* Source: SAMHSA 2020
** Source: CDC June 2022
