Coffee talk

By Brandie Majeau

              A small group gathered at the Thorhild Library on March 9th for the second meeting of a free community program, Coffee Talk.  Cindy Neumiller, Alberta Health Services Health Promotions Facilitator out of Westlock, spoke to the gathering about poison prevention, which typically affects children.  Through information and trivia games, she educated the group about proper storage of potential poisons, being mindful of look-a-likes (medication that appears to be candy) and being attentive to your own behavior with products that are harmful to children.  Many poisoning situations involving cannabis and e-cigarettes often occur because children want to imitate what they are seeing.  Neumiller highlighted facts like the most frequent call to Alberta’s poison centre for children aged 0-5 is about acetaminophen or ibuprofen and to be attentive to items that are generally not looked upon as poisons, like mouthwash.  “It’s an expensive problem,” Neumiller stated. “It costs 1.6 million dollars on our health care system every year for something that is preventable.”  She also informed those in attendance that PADIS (Poison & Drug Information Service) can be accessed 24/7 at 1-800-332-1414.

              Last month, the Coffee Talk program discussed fall prevention, cancer screening and other health services. The goal of this monthly program is to share messages about injury prevention.  Pam Majeau, who attended sessions, stated she found the program informative and a great way to find out about different health services and also a way to meet people in the community.  Sue Marshall, who was also attending, added to Majeau’s comment, saying that these programs are important and that there is a concern because of the poor attendance.  She said we may lose things like this simply because not enough people show up.  Next month we will discuss outdoor play and keeping children safe in those environments.