Mystery pills give parents fright
15-month old son rushed to hospital after eating unknown tablet found near city hall
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, October 8, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Yellowknife couple is warning parents about a potentially dangerous situation they encountered near city hall over the weekend involving their 15-month-old son.
Robert Girvan was with his wife Tricia McFaull, their teenage daughter and young son Nicholas Saturday afternoon, taking pictures near the Lorraine Minish-Cooper Garden of Hope behind city hall.
They found a baggie of yellow pills on the ground nearby, said Girvan.
"We picked up the bag of pills, probably with about a dozen inside of it," said Girvan. "We had the intention of throwing them in the garbage."
But before they knew it, their daughter yelled out, "Nicholas is eating something."
They then realized young Nicholas had found another one of the pills on the ground and put it in his mouth, said Girvan.
"We didn't notice there were more pills on the ground, not in the baggie. They were yellow - the same colour as the leaves on the ground - so we didn't see them before Nicholas did."
Girvan said he was able to get the partially eaten pill out of the boy's mouth.
His mother then put her finger down Nicholas' throat and got him to gag and vomit up the rest of the pill.
"There were some yellow specks in what he brought up," said Girvan. "We were concerned that he may have swallowed more."
They noticed about six pills lying loose on the ground so they scooped those ones up as well.
The family then took the boy and the pills to the emergency department at Stanton Territorial Hospital and informed staff what had happened.
"They were very concerned. They saw him right away," said McFaull.
Staff at the hospital didn't pump his stomach, but did keep him there and monitored him for almost five hours to make sure everything was OK.
"They took urine and blood samples and kept a close eye on him for any abnormal behaviour," said Girvan. "But we don't think he actually swallowed the pill."
The family returned home Saturday evening and Nicholas has shown no ill effects of his potentially life-threatening adventure.
"It was upsetting, and surprising that it happened, but we're relieved now that we know Nicholas is fine," Girvan said.
McFaull took to social media to let parents know about what happened.
"I went on a Facebook site called Moms to Moms just to let folks know this could occur," she said.
"I've never heard of something like this happening, but maybe I'm a little naive.
"The park is well maintained. It's not like there's garbage lying on the ground in the park but we were downtown and I just wanted others to be aware of what happened to us so that it doesn't happen to them."
She stated on the posting that she just wanted everyone to know to be careful with their children and pets when they are at the park.
She would hate to see this happen to someone else, she stated.
McFaull also said she wanted to acknowledge what she called the amazing staff at Stanton.
"They were very busy at the time. They had a full house," she said. "But they provided exceptional care for Nicholas and I want people to know that. Sometimes those health workers are overlooked."
She also posted that neither RCMP nor the doctor knew what the pills were, but think that they were made locally.
The yellow pills, some tablets and others in capsule form, have now been turned over to RCMP.
It's not clear whether the pills have been sent to a lab for testing, but RCMP spokesperson Const. Elenore Sturko did state in an e-mail that, "In this incident, the parents did the right thing.
"If you suspect your child has accidentally consumed medication, or drugs, or any substance you are unsure of, take the child for immediate medical treatment."
RCMP have not issued any formal warning to the public about the pills, nor have they issued a news release about the incident.
