Rehabmart offers many different types of pill dispensers at discount prices. Visit our pill organizer page to view the different products we have to offer!

What is the first thing you think when you hear the words “drug abuser”?  Most would think of the people who use illegal drugs such as heroin, cocaine, meth, and even marijuana.  Shooting up in alleys and abandoned houses, or snorting cocaine while out dancing, or late at night at home in the basement after the kids are asleep.  And not many people would think of alcohol as an abused drug because most people drink moderately and its legal, until the word “alcoholic” is used, then the abuser label will be applied.

What kind of person do you think of when you think of a drug abuser?  Once again, most think of young people with no job, or the criminal element, or other ‘undesirables’ of society.  Or maybe the old “hippy” who’s been smoking marijuana for 40 years or the skinny, hyperactive person looking for their smoke of meth. 

Yet the drugs that are abused most are legally prescribed prescription drugs, and the people who abuse those most often are the elderly. Yep, grandma and granddad could be abusing drugs right now and not even know it.  One way to abuse prescription drugs is when the person doesn’t take his or her prescription medicine properly, getting the different pills and capsules mixed up or accidently double-dosing, and older adults are at a high risk for prescription drug abuse because they take more prescription medicines than any other age group.  Americans 65 years of age or older make up only about 13 percent of the United States population yet they consume approximately 33 percent, or one third, of all prescription drugs.

Studies show that older adults often take more than one prescription medicine each day, often multiple prescriptions at different times of the day, increasing the risk of mistakes by unknowingly abusing prescription medicine.  Combine the fact that sometimes an older adult may also become confused and forgetful during the day and he or she may take too much or too little of their prescriptions, opening up a larger possibility of unintended medicine abuse.  

Idyllically elder people would have a family member or caregiver assist them in taking the prescription medicine at the correct time with the correct amount, but this just doesn’t happen often, with more elderly staying independent longer these days.  One way to help insure the correct dosage at the correct time is with automatic or talking pill dispensers.  The following are a few of the medication dispensers that Rehabmart offers.

The MedCenter Your.Minder Personal Recording Alarm Clock will remind a person to take the correct dosage of medicine at the correct time.  This personal alarm clock allows individuals to record their own voice and use it as a reminder for taking meds, or as a personal alarm clock.  Being able to record up to six reminders or alarms by using the built-in microphone, a person can alert themselves for medication time, a doctor’s appointment, someone’s upcoming birthday, or just about anything that a person needs to be reminded to do.  The clear, large lighted date/day/time display combined with dual speakers that come with loud or extra loud settings can make daily living a little easier and safer for everybody.

The Med-Q Pill Box Organizer is another solution that will help prevent medication errors by sounding an alarm to remind the user to take his or her medications at the correct time and the proper amount.  A flashing, bright LED light on the correct day will also assist the user in picking the correct pills to take at the correct time.  The large buttons make all the features easy to see and operate, choosing from a single beep alarm to a double beep alarm.  Once the time to take the medicine occurs, the alarm will sound for two minutes at 50 percent of volume, two minutes at 80 percent, and one minute at 100 percent volume for five minutes and then shut off.  The alarm will then repeat this sequence every 25 minutes until the medications are taken, making it impossible to forget.

The Med-E-Lert Automatic Pill Dispenser can be used either at home as well as in a clinical environment to remind the user or patients to take their medication at the correct time and day, ensuring only the prescribed dose of medicine. This reduces the risk of personnel distribution mistakes, helping with patient compliance and assisting the caregiver.  The 28 compartments can hold up to about 18 aspirin-sized pills, and have a tamper-proof locking key system preventing over-medication or missing medication.  When the time comes for the user to receive their medication, they will be alerted at the specific time with one of three tones and a blinking red light.  With the 28 pill compartments, this pill dispenser can hold up to one week’s, four-time-a-day supply, or a once-a-day, 28 day schedule.  

The danger lies not so much in the medicine itself but how it is used.  Many older people are unknowingly over-medicating themselves, slowly turning themselves into people who abuse drugs, suffering the common ails of the drug abuser.  However, intent to reach a new ‘high’ is not the reason for this type of drug abuse. Confusion and misunderstanding are the main culprits of the elderly’s drug problem, and the best way to kick this habit is to not let it get started.  Prescription drugs can be powerful and potentially harmful drugs that should be carefully taken at the right time of the day and at the correct amount to be able to help the users, not to harm them.

Bill Stock
Executive Editor,
Content & Social Media Services
and
Hulet Smith, OT
Rehabmart Team Leader & CEO