Hospital emergency rooms collect pounds of unwanted medications

Venice resident Dorsi Davis was thinking of throwing away her unused prescription medications, then she heard about an event called “Crush the Crisis” at HCA Florida Venice Doctors Emergency. Dorsi and her husband pulled up through the drive-through event and turned in a bag of pills she had been saving for more than two years. “I was about to put these in the trash. I am so thankful you are here to collect these,” said Davis.

“Crush the Crisis” is a prescription drug take-back day that raises awareness about the dangers of prescription drug misuse and the importance of safe and proper disposal of unused or expired medications. At HCA Florida Venice Doctors Emergency, 110 pounds of unused medications were collected. At HCA Florida Braden River Emergency, 16 pounds were collected.

The event offered the community an opportunity to safely and anonymously dispose of medications that may be left over from previous procedures or other medical visits. Since 2019, HCA Healthcare has helped safely dispose of more than 88,000 pounds of unused or expired medication nationally.

Osprey resident Richard Shalkop also brought a bag of unwanted pills. “I didn’t want to burn these, so I have been keeping them in my garage. I was storing them until I could figure out what to do with them. It’s a good thing you are doing this,” added Davis.

The emergency rooms partnered with local law enforcement agencies to collect the medications, and then the law enforcement agencies will dispose of them.