INUVIK
Some Grade 3 students at East Three Elementary School received a crash course in what a pharmacist does April 8.
Pharmacist Marie-Claire Savoie was at East Three Elementary School April 8 to educate a Grade 3 class about the dangers of prescription medicine. - Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo
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Marie-Claire Savoie, the pharmacist at the nearby Northmart store, spent about 30 minutes introducing the children to the skills of a pharmacist and the dangers of mistaking medication for candy.
It was the sixth such presentation for Savoie, who said she enjoys meeting with the young children.
"For kids it's important to have presentations like this to encourage safety," Savoie said. "They have to learn about medication."
The presentation was designed by the Canadian Pharmacists Association, she said, and is tailored to be age-appropriate for children from kindergarten to Grade 3.
"We introduce them to what a pharmacist does," Savoie said. "At this age, they know what a doctor does and a nurse, but not so much about a pharmacist."
One of the crucial things, Savoie said, is for children to be able to distinguish between what is candy and what is medication. That's complicated by the fact that many children's medications are designed to be tasty like candy and to look festive to be more palatable.
The children listened attentively and, at times, energetically.
One of those students, Kristen Grey, was particularly attentive and knowledgeable.
"My mom used to be a doctor," she said afterwards. "So I knew most of it. Still, it was fun and good."
Savoie began with a slideshow that described some of the differences between medications and common items such as vitamins and cough drops.
"Even those everyday, innocuous things can have serious repercussions if used to excess," said Francophone Association of the Mackenzie Delta spokesperson Gabriel Regimbald.
"Using funding from a NWT Health program, we decided to offer safety education for young children attending East Three Elementary concerning all things related to pharmaceuticals."
Savoie then moved on to test the children's ability to correctly identify candy from medication, which proved to be more difficult than they thought.
Savoie also stressed the dangers of sharing medication with friends, and to take it only from trusted family members and professionals, such as a pharmacist.
