UB PharmD students teach poison prevention and awareness at local schools

First-year PharmD students from the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (UB SPPS) visited local preschools and elementary schools during the spring semester to educate students on the importance of poison prevention and awareness.

Throughout the month of April, 125 students visited 23 local schools, giving more than 100 poison-prevention and awareness presentations to approximately 2,500 preschool and elementary school students.

Along with explaining the dangers of accidentally misusing common household items, the UB students emphasized the importance of only taking medicine that’s been prescribed. Their message: “A poison is anything that can hurt you if you take it the wrong way. Before you touch, play with, eat or drink anything you’re not absolutely sure is safe, ask a grown-up.”

“I think it's really important to work on poison prevention,” says Caden Jones, PharmD ’24, UB SPPS poison-prevention student leader. “There are so many potential dangers in our everyday lives, and it’s essential to take steps to keep ourselves and those around us safe. I thought this would be an excellent opportunity to work with my local high school and UB SPPS to design and help distribute a poison-prevention presentation for those within our community,” Jones explains.

The presentations included videos and interactive games, along with goodie bags for student containing Poison Information Center magnets, stickers, activity sheets, crayons and letters to parents.

“The UB PharmD students did a fantastic job, were engaging with the elementary students and received positive feedback from the teachers I talked with,” says Mary Beth Dreyer, public health educator for the Upstate New York Poison Center.

Since the 1980s, UB PharmD students and faculty have partnered with the Poison Control Center to provide educational poison-prevention and awareness programs to various groups in Western New York.