In our world today, we are bombarded with all kinds of advertisements and marketing ploys. Very few are helpful and some even try to mislead the consumer. Recently, I was leafing through our office copy of the magazine Coping with Allergies & Asthma. This magazine (in its eleventh year already!) provides a great service to allergy sufferers and their families. The articles normally are informative and focused on the unique problems that allergy and asthma sufferers encounter in everyday life. I usually skip right over the ads to read these articles, but this month an advertisement caught my eye that warrants some praise.

The ad is for an EpiPen® Auto-Injector. A huge picture of an auto-injector is at the top of the page with the expiration date highlighted. The expiration date is the important part that stood out to me. Often, we forget that these health aides expire and can become ineffective in an emergency. In order for the EpiPen® to work properly in an emergency, it has to be up to date. According to the advertisement, the EpiPen remains effective for about one year after you receive it from the pharmacy. If you forget and let your prescription run out, you may not be able to respond to an emergency allergy attack. The article gives you information on how to register your EpiPen® Auto-Injector, so that you can receive reminders from the Center for Anaphylactic Support.

Advertisements sometimes are worth reading! I encourage everyone to check the expiration date on their auto-injectors and to check out the web site. The information is free. In an emergency, keeping your EpiPen® current could be the difference between life and death.