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Citizens drive up with 300 pounds of meds 

June 04, 2018

More than 200 people dropped off over 300 pounds of unused pills June 2 when UHS hosted a "Shed the Meds" medication drive-up event at the Oakdale Mall.

Organizers noted that this was the best-attended drop-off held to date.

"The event was well-attended and people were so grateful, thanking us for doing it," said Karen Bayer, RN, director of Community Health Education at UHS.

In addition to accepting meds for safe disposal, those staffing the drop-off point handed out refrigerator magnets printed with important UHS health-related phone numbers.

The event was sponsored by New York State Sen. Fred Akshar, the Johnson City Police Department, the Broome County Sheriff's Office, the Southern Tier AIDS Program and UHS Stay Healthy at the Oakdale Mall.

Cleaning out your bathroom cabinet can be the first line of defense in keeping drugs out of children's hands. Prescription-drug abuse is known to be a gateway to heroin use and addiction.

The drive-up, drop-off day gives the public a chance to safely dump unused pills that are no longer needed.

Community leaders of the

Community leaders of the "Shed the Meds" medication drop-off event in attendance June 2 were, from left, Broome County Sheriff Dave Harder; Stay Healthy's Karen Bayer, Sue MacNeill and Ellen Hayes; New York State Sen. Fred Akshar; UHS pharmacists Michelle Newkirk and Annie Zakian; Celese Passaglini-Mack of Stay Healthy; Johnson City Police Officer Jay Vandermark; and Johnson City Mayor Greg Deemie.

Watch New York State Sen. Fred Akshar's Facebook live video from the event below: