How to successfully take pills

DEAR HELOISE >>

Today's column talked about successfully taking pills. As an RN, my advice is to take a big swallow of water first, and then start taking your pills. Thank you, Heloise, for your continued help.

— Corrinne Berkland, Universal City, Texas

DEAR HELOISE >> Recently, I was stopped near a car at a stoplight. The front seat passenger had her feet on the dashboard. You may want to alert your readers about the danger of doing this. If the passengerside airbag was set off because of an accident or a malfunction, serious injuries could occur. The person's knees could be driven into their face or chest. Their legs or ankles could also be broken (or all of the above). Best regards and smiles.

— Tim Davis, Kettering,

Ohio

DEAR HELOISE >> I just read the letter about doing your duty by serving on a jury. In my state, there is no law that says a person must be paid his/her salary while on a jury. And of course, there are people who do not work for a company, maybe being self-employed. That small amount of money that is paid to each jury member by the court system cannot come close to paying rent, a car note, etc.

While it sounds wonderful to do your civic duty, people have to pay bills. My employer pays for five days, and anything over that falls on the employee. Whenever any of my employees are served with a jury summons, I always tell them about the company policy — five days are paid.

— Linda Pittman

DEAR HELOISE >> I'm always getting small cuts on my fingers, and the old procedure was to put an antiseptic on the cut and protect it with an adhesive bandage.

After a couple of hand wettings and washings, the bandage would come loose, exposing the cut. I then tried cutting a small piece of gauze and putting it on water-resistant adhesive tape; this didn't last very long, as water would get into the gauze, loosening the tape.

The next try was using a liquid antiseptic, such as iodine or mercurochrome, sealing it with liquid “new skin” and covering it with waterproof adhesive tape. Now, the tape would last a couple days, keeping the cut out of the water. Taking off the tape revealed that the cut had healed in a fraction of the time that the other procedures had taken.

— Bob Salter, Morganton,

North Carolina

DEAR HELOISE >> We love fresh strawberries, but they quickly seem to go bad when they are crammed into those large plastic containers. I started saving them and separated the strawberries into two containers. This didn't take up as much room in the refrigerator, and they seem to last longer. This works well for blueberries, too. — Joanne Fox, Sioux

City, Iowa