As the number of grandparents taking care of their grandchildren increases, some safety advocates worry it also raises the risk of kids coming in contact with dangerous medications.

At a "pill drop" Saturday, Safe Kids Gainesville/Hall County will try to decrease that danger by collecting unused or expired prescriptions.

"Our goal is to get unused, unwanted and expired medications out of the home to prevent misuse, abuse and accidental poisoning by children and adults," said Kim Martin, Safe Kids coalition coordinator.

This will be the group's second Pill Drop. In September, Safe Kids collected nearly 5 pounds of medication.

Martin said older individuals are more likely to have large amounts of expired prescriptions in their home.

"(The older generation) are on quite a few medications due to the aging process," she said.

"And a lot of those older grandparents are keeping their grandchildren and taking care of them in their home. That population does not always lock up those medications as they should."

Saturday's event will aim to not just remove dangerous prescriptions from the home but raise awareness about properly storing medications. Martin said medications should not be stored in pill boxes separated by the day of the week.

"The medications should be in a high cabinet — locked cabinet preferably — not sitting on counter tops or bedside tables where those small little inquisitive hands will get into it, because medication to a toddler looks a whole lot like candy," she said.

The pill drop is confidential, Martin said.

Several certified individuals also will be on hand to check the safety of child car seats.

Last week, the American Academy of Pediatrics changed its recommendations for car seats, saying rear facing car seats should be used until age 2, booster seats until age 8 and back-seat-only seating until age 13.