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PRESS RELEASE
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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| Tuesday, September 9, 2003 |
Contact: AoA Press Office
(202) 401-4541 |
The U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA) Partners with
the National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, Inc. (NCBA), the
National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE)
to Educate Area Seniors About Safe Use of Medications
Event is Part of HHS’ Second Annual “Take A Loved
One to the Doctor Day” Initiative
Josefina G. Carbonell, Assistant Secretary for Aging in the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services, and local pharmacists addressed Washington,
D.C. area seniors today to increase awareness about the importance of safe
and effective medication management and other prevention messages.
As many as one in five older Americans who live independently
use prescription medicines that are considered potentially
inappropriate. In order to ensure
that messages about the safe use of prescription medicines reach at-risk
seniors, AoA partnered with the National Caucus and Center
on Black Aged, Inc. (NCBA),
the National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE) and its
member organizations to provide an overview on medication
management, followed by
an opportunity for older residents to talk to pharmacists in smaller settings
about the safe use of medicines
AoA’s effort to inform local seniors about safe and effective use of
medicines is part of “Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day” - a national
HHS campaign that aims to close the health gap between the health of communities
of color and the general population. People can take charge of their health,
and participating in “Take a Loved One to the Doctor Day” can be
a positive first step. HHS and AoA are emphasizing the importance of prevention
activities through its second annual “Take Your Loved One to the Doctor
Day”, officially recognized as September 16 but emphasized throughout
the year. HHS recommends regular visits to the doctor, dentist, and pharmacist
in order to ensure healthy living and healthy aging for all Americans, especially
those who are disadvantaged.
Medication management and drug therapy among older adults is
an important component of health promotion and disease prevention
for older adults; yet, it’s
becoming a growing issue due to the increasing availability of improved and
stronger medicines. This coincides at a time when Americans over the age of
65 years of age consume one-third of all prescriptions in the U.S. and purchase
40 percent of all over-the-counter medications.
Every medicine has the potential to cause an undesired or adverse
reaction. Medication errors can occur when a patient receives
the wrong medicine, takes an incorrect dose, takes a medicine
at the wrong time, or inappropriately combines prescription,
non-prescription, and/or other medicines, food, or beverages.
More than 1.9 million medication errors occurred among Medicare
patients from 1999-2000 and more than one-fourth of the errors
were preventable, according to an Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality (AHRQ)-supported study.
Complicating the issue is the reality that many older people
are self-medicating. There’s an increasing availability
of various types of over-the-counter drugs, vitamins and minerals,
herbal and dietary supplements. This is potentially dangerous
because over-the-counter drugs can have the same adverse drug
reactions as with prescription medicines. For example, aspirin
should not be taken with warfarin (Coumadin). Gingko bilboa should
not be taken with aspirin, acetaminophen, warfarin, or thiazide
diuretics because it may increase blood pressure and the risk
of bleeding.
“Some groups of older persons are particularly vulnerable
to poor health outcomes because they are exposed to both socioeconomic
and age-related physiological stress factors that interact to
increase their risk,” said Assistant Secretary Carbonell. “We
hope that by focusing on taking this message to underserved communities,
it will improve their knowledge about how to take medicines safely
and that it will remind them to make sure that their doctors
know about all of the medicines they are taking – both
prescribed and over-the-counter,” she continued.
NCPIE-affiliated members that provided pharmacists and speakers
include the American Pharmacists Association; National Association
of Chain Drug Stores; National Community Pharmacists Association;
The Peter Lamy Center; and the University of Maryland School
of Pharmacy.
To help people avoid medication errors, AHRQ and NCPIE have
developed Your Medicine: Play It Safe, a 12-page brochure designed
to help patients use their medications safely and effectively.
It is available in English and Spanish and includes a detachable,
pocket-sized medicine record form that can be personalized. The
brochure can be downloaded from the Web at
http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/safemeds/safemeds.htm,
or printed copies can be obtained by calling 1-800-358-9295.
| Last Modified: 7/16/2009 9:06:12 AM |
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