Winter is coming. As medicine shelves are about to be filled with drugs for cold, Abbott has tapped home organizing help from a specialist.
In a new campaign, Abbott has partnered with global lifestyle brand The Home Edit, encouraging people to make over their medicine cabinets. The initiative offers advice on healthcare essentials every medicine cabinet should have on hand to prepare for the common cold and flu season with the added stress and complications of COVID-19.
Abbott launched the project to coincide with a post-pandemic mentality where people have learned to be more in control of their personal healthcare needs. Most households today store at least one—if not many—at-home rapid COVID-19 tests, ready for testing at the sign of symptoms.
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“We love helping families get organized and there’s no better time of year to do it than now,” Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin, founders of The Home Edit, said in a press release. “Going through your medicine cabinet and making sure you have health and wellness products on hand and organized can help you feel prepared for whatever the season brings. Essentials like BinaxNOW have become a staple in our medicine cabinets to keep our families protected from COVID-19.”
Some cabinet organization tips offered by Shearer and Teplin include:
First, pick your medicine space—wherever you plan to store drugs, make sure it is away from children and pets and climate controlled.
Second, take inventory and check expiration dates. Once you know what should be tossed and what you still need to purchase, organize the shelves by grouping similar products.
Shearer and Teplin also recommend labeling products clearly, creating sections by type of sickness—cold, allergy, stomach, headache—and include a “sick day” grab bag with essentials such as medication, tissues, a thermometer, COVID tests and fluids, etc.
According to physicians interviewed by Abbott, organizing a medicine cabinet can also have mental health benefits, as it adds an extra layer of peace of mind for those worried in the uncertain times of COVID-19.
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“While we still have a lot to learn about COVID-19, one thing that we know for sure is that it’s not going away,” Aparna Ahuja, M.D., head of clinical and medical affairs, infectious diseases, Abbott, said in a statement. “Having rapid tests on hand will be critical to staying safe this season by ensuring that COVID-19 infections are diagnosed quickly, so the appropriate measures can be taken to get well and avoid the risk of spreading an infection.”
Abbott makes the COVID-19 rapid test BinaxNOW. The at-home test is readily available over-the-counter at retailers across the country and provides results in 15 minutes. BinaxNOW is both FSA and HSA eligible, and insurance plans may cover up to eight over-the-counter, at-home COVID-19 tests per covered individual per month.