Safe disposal medication collection events are held by organizations throughout the state and many patients are in the habit of cleaning out their medication cabinets annually in conjunction with these events. Keep Northern Illinois Beautiful has held such events annually for many years in Winnebago County.
This year a pharmacist at UWHealth Northern Illinois wanted to see what would happen if drug donation was incorporated in the KNIB event. KNIB agreed to give it a try and they developed a process to fulfill all the legal requirements of I-DROP for donations during the event. The June 10th event advertising did mention the opportunity for drug donation would be available, but donation was not the main message.
Most of the people bringing meds in were not aware of the donation option, nevertheless, a significant amount of donation-eligible medication was collected and donated to the UWHealth Northern Illinois Outpatient Pharmacy repository program. With better advance messaging, organizers believe recovery of donation-eligible medication could significantly improve and plan to adjust next year’s event accordingly.