Injecting safety into shots
The One and Only Campaign, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Safe Injection Practices Coalition, is focused on raising awareness among patients and health care providers about proper injection procedures. Credit: Handout
The last thing you want is to leave the doctor's office or hospital sicker than when you went in. But for some, that is what happened because of unsafe injection practices.
The One and Only Campaign, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Safe Injection Practices Coalition, is focused on raising awareness among patients and health care providers about proper injection procedures. For example, it's not enough to use a new needle for each patient. New syringes should also be used.
Since 1999, more than 125,000 people have been informed they may have been exposed to hepatitis or HIV because of injection lapses by health care professionals.
If you want to learn more, there's a free seminar presented by the New York One and Only Campaign Wednesday, 1-3 p.m., at South Nassau Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Freeport. For reservations, call 516-579-4711. For information on the campaign, go to oneandonlycampaign.org.
