Mom is on (thankfully) a very simple med regimen: one pill she takes once a day, and one she takes three times a day. Her home help caregiver used to set them up in a labelled pillbox once a week. Well, the agency has now changed their procedure and wants to set them up once a month. It was a disaster. Mom got hopelessly confused about which box was which week. So now the agency says she needs them set up once a week again, BUT now only certified caregivers can do it, so a special person has to come just for that and it will cost $500 a month EXTRA! This is crazy and completely unaffordable. Is anyone aware of some other option? Like, are there pharmacies that will send a tech once a week to set up meds at someone’s home and not charge $125 a week to set up a week’s worth of four pills a day?! I am trying to negotiate with the agency, but so far all they’ve suggested is getting an electronic / automated pill dispenser, which - for anyone who knows my technophobe mother - would be a complete failure. She’d push buttons, break it, freak out when it beeped, or whatever. I live 1000 miles away and my mother already thinks I’m a controlling b***h and so no, I’m not calling her three times a day to tell her to take her pill. Any other options anyone can suggest? Thank you!
Do you know exactly how they did these weekly pill boxes? How often does her caregiver come? I'm wondering if they could put them together once a month but hide the weeks she is not on yet and just take out one box at a time?
$500 dollars a month is CRAZY! Especially for how simple her regime is! But your choices are very limited. I think it might be time to consider having mom move into AL or SNF, depending on her care needs.
I had looked at those automatic pill dispensers for my mom and felt exactly like you!
Best of luck.
In Hospice, organizing meds is something they do as part of the package deal.
If she lives completely alone--well--you're kind of sunk. I'm sorry, since that often leads to much bigger headaches--like overdosing b/c they don't remember what they are taking, how much and/or when. (My MIL has OD'ed several times, and fallen. She wants to be independent, so the kids leave her messages on the counter with the meds. I know she's not taking them appropriately.)
If mom has CG's, then they can do this. when I was working elder care, I wasn't 'supposed' to handle the meds. All well and good, but my client sure didn't want somebody else coming in every week to do it and it took all of 10 minutes to do.
I also wasn't supposed to touch them at all--but that is plainly stupid. She shook so badly she couldn't HOLD the darn things, so I would put one in her mouth, then give her drink, and on and on until that dose was done. I will say this was done with the full knowledge of her family and their blessing to do so.
As long as mom's primary CG's agree on someone dispensing the meds, IDK what you can do. People want to be independent. But mucking about with medications is not something many of them can do properly.
Who IS on the battleground, if it's not you? This is just something that you, being 1000 miles away, can properly handle.
Some agencies will do this.
An agency I had spoken to and considered actually said the opposite of what you are decribing. Their home caregivers can make sure a client takes their pills but are not allowed to touch the pill box at all, and they do not have med techs or RNs who can come to load them. THey expect family to load them at whatever interval the family wants.