offering gift ideas and needing some others

[amoLucia]

Am requesting ideas from readers out here for belated Christmas gifts ideas or New Year ideas for self or others, esp those for whom or for what you're stumped.

Your Grandma doesn't need a new sweater and Grandpop doesn't need a new tie. No perfumes needed. And no novel kitchen gadgets/cookbooks needed either as they aren't into cooking much more these days.

So what to do when the need is for something REALLLLLLLY needed that is healthy or safety-minded or truly helpful and then will be appreciated by someone who is vulnerable or at risk.

I have a suggestion based on my own need that came with a startling realization.

A MEDICATION CLOSET CLEAN-OUT (also known as a purge in reality).

A couple months ago, I needed a BENADRYL. A simple BENADRYL. I KNEW I had SOME in my med closet. Oh yeah - expired 2/2013. Now I'll use some things maybe up to 6 months past expiration. But 3+ years, NO way!

I woke up at 3am with both hands flaming red and itching TERRIBLE. I had been to a doctor appt earlier that evening and washed my hands in the BR before I left. Nothing systemic - just an unexpected contact dermatitis, prob from the soap. Simple BENADRYL would do fine, even a motrin/Tylenol PM would do it. But NONE!

Now I use a walker and am housebound; no longer do I drive at this time. I was limited to whom to contact for a drugstore run or to borrow. So temporarily, some topical cortisone crème sufficed. But what really surprised me was that I had quite a few other bottles of pharms that had long-expired too. I'm a professional NURSE; that I had so many expired meds REALLY surprised me. Mainly vitamins & supplements and a few OTCs, but a few old narcs that made me loopy were in there too.

Then I thought how many oldsters, as in our parents and grands, aunts & uncles, the sweet LOL next-door, and others have the same outdated things in their med closets. Would my Dad have looked at the dates on any of those bottles? I doubt it, but if he did, he'd be too CHEAP to waste the pills to throw them out, and he'd have taken something.

Back to my suggestion re a med closet clean-out as a 'gift' project for someone. Make it a pleasant visit. Take your Mom or Dad out for a simple meal or buy takeout. Promise to replace some important meds. It'll be a great opp'ty to safely purge dangerous substances. And it might be an EYE-OPENER to check for poly-pharm or heavy med over-usage, etc.

Sooooo ... I'm asking others here for any similar suggestions to offer that serve healthy, safe, well-being or helpful purposes. What could you do or suggest that would fill such a need for someone like your Dad or your Aunt Mary, etc. Think of it as a possible New Year's project.

Suggestions?