Fall Putnam County Medication Take Back Day Rescheduled for Nov. 17

The Putnam County Communities That Care Coalition, in collaboration with the Putnam County Health Department and Putnam County Sheriff's Department, will be holding a Fall Medication Take Back Event at Putnam Hospital Center (PHC) on the rescheduled date of Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012. This postponement took place due to the recovery process related to Hurricane Sandy.

To help combat this growing threat to our nation’s children Putnam Hospital Center will host the event on Saturday, November 17, 2012. The disposal hours are between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Please enter through the PHC Wagner Cancer Pavilion entrance. Signage will be posted leading to the disposal area. Individuals can dispose of prescription medication, over the counter medication, and pet medication. Syringes will NOT be accepted. Please keep all medications in their original packaging and remove personal patient information.  Here are some steps you can take to prevent the misuse of prescription and over the counter medicine:

• Take inventory of your prescription and over-the-counter medicine.
• Lock your medicine chest.
• Dispose of your unused, unwanted, and expired medicine in your home or at a proper disposal site
• Take your medicine(s) exactly as prescribed.
• Talk to your children about the dangers of prescription drug abuse.

The most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows prescription medicines to be the most abused drugs by Americans, other than marijuana and found that 70 percent of people who abuse prescription pain relievers say they got them from friends or relatives. A recent study on drug use by of teens by the Partnership for a Drug Free America (PDFA) found that one in 9 children are abusing prescription pain relievers to get high.

For more information, please call Mary Rice of the Putnam County Health Department at (845) 808- 1390 ext. 43164 or Elaine Santos of the Putnam County Communities That Care Coalition at (845) 225-4646.

Please visit and join us on Facebook by searching “Putnam County Communities That Care – NY” or on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/PutnamCTCNY.