Ottawa County, Michigan Community Mental Health Press Releases Participate in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

Remove the Risk from your Home—Participate in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day

Take Back Event at Spectrum Health Zeeland Community Hospital

on October 23^rd

 

Ottawa County, Mich – The United States is currently experiencing an epidemic of prescription drug misuse and abuse. Opioid overdose deaths in Michigan have almost tripled in five years. To help turn the tide on this epidemic, Community Mental Health of Ottawa County and Spectrum Health are partnering with Michigan OPEN and the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Department to host a medication take-back event on Saturday, October 23rd from 10 am - 2 pm.

This will be a drive thru event to ensure the safety of everyone participating. Please bring any unused or expired medications to be properly disposed of. We will also be taking back used needles for proper disposal. We will be offering some medication lock boxes as well as Narcan training/distribution for those who are interested.

Did you know?

• Every 10 minutes a child visits the emergency room for medication poisoning
• 5 million people age 12 and older misused opioids in the last year
• Three in five teens say prescription pain medication is easy to get from their parents’ medicine cabinet

Community opioid and medication take-back events provide a safe process for disposing of unused medications and used needles while protecting our communities, children, and environment.

Please, remove the risk from your home and bring your unused medications and used needles to Spectrum Health Zeeland Community Hospital at: 8333 Felch St, Zeeland, MI 49464

***If you would like more information or to schedule an interview with Lynne Doyle please contact Anna Bednarek at abednarek@miottawa.org or 231-740-6105