MedSafe Comes to Newton-Wellesley Hospital

This month Newton-Wellesley Hospital launched MedSafe, a new program to help dispose of unused and expired controlled and non-controlled medications as well as over the counter medicines. The receptacle unit, located in the Hospital’s West Lobby, can be used by patients, visitors and employees for the safe disposal of these medications.

“It is important to properly dispose of unused and expired medications to reduce the risk of accidental exposure or intentional misuse,” said Steve Clark, Director, Pharmacy and Clinical Services, Newton-Wellesley Hospital. “Prescription and over-the-counter drugs can pose a serious risk and we are working with the community to decrease and hopefully eliminate this danger.”

The receptacle is not for disposal of liquids or needles. The secured one-way medicine drop box will be monitored by the Newton-Wellesley Hospital Pharmacy Department. Medications will be discarded safely in conjunction with MedSafe.

Newton-Wellesley Hospital is a full system member of Partners HealthCare System, Inc. (PHCS), a nonprofit organization that includes acute care hospitals Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s/Faulkner Hospitals, The North Shore Medical Center, and specialty hospitals McLean Hospital and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, as well as Dana-Farber/Partners CancerCare, and the community-based doctors and hospitals of Partners Community Physician’s Organization.

Newton-Wellesley Hospital provides a wide range of services, including medical, surgical, obstetrics and gynecology, cardiovascular, emergency, orthopaedic, neonatal, pediatric, hematology/oncology, and psychiatric care. Newton-Wellesley has been serving its community for over a century. The medical staff of the Hospital includes nearly 1,000 physicians practicing a full range of specialties. NWH is a major teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine and has established post-graduate training programs for Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital residents, teaching hospitals of Harvard Medical School.

For more information about services and programs offered at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, please call CareFinder at 866-NWH-DOCS (694-3627) or visit www.nwh.org.