1700 Medication Dispenser, with Flashing Light (1700FL)

I have an older relative who is in the early stages of Alzheimers disease, and he is so forgetful, he could never remember to take his pills. This machine works great for him. He has used it for two or three years, and with the help of this Medready machine, he now takes his pills about 90% of the time. He takes pills twice daily, which means I can load up this Medready with 14 days of pills. Initially, he was resistant to using it, because he claimed he never forgot to take his pills (so how come a 30-day supply of pills would last 8 weeks?) But once he started using this machine, he began to like it. The Medready comes with some instructions for how to get someone accustomed to using it. They suggest that when you first start using this, you telephone your relative at the exact time of day the machine is set to dispense the pills. That was good advice, and worked for us. After using the machine for a couple of weeks, he said what a great machine it is. Okay, so fast forward two or three years. I recently visited this older relative one morning, and I saw that the Medready machine was missing from his apartment. Apparently he had gotten confused, and tossed it into the dumpster. This happened twice over a period of several weeks. So after buying a replacement Medready machine, I drilled holes in the base of the machine, and I bolted it to my relative's dining room table. Now he can't remove it, and for the past month he has once again been taking his pills just fine.Let me comment on some of the other reviews I have seen here. Some people have pointed out that this machine is a Godsend because it has enabled their older relative to continue living independently. That is certainly the case with me, too. I wish we'd had these things 20 years ago, when my mother was still alive, and was suffering from dementia.Secondly, the caregiver (or whoever fills the machine) must take the time to thoroughly READ THE INSTRUCTIONS. From some of the comments, it seems clear that some people never set up their machine properly when they first got it. Yes, I agree that the instructions are not the best. Medready should probably take another look and see if the instructions can be improved. But I am no Einstein, and I was able to figure them out. When you first get this thing, plan to take a couple of hours to read everything, look at the pictures provided, and set it up, and play around with it. You can set the alarms up to four times per day, at whatever times you decide. My model comes with an audible alarm and a flashing alarm light. But I actually have the audible alarm turned off, because just the sound of the machine activating is fairly loud by itself, and I knew my older relative would be irritated by any alarm. Every patient is different, and you will have to decide what will work best for your situation, but I like having the option to activate or de-activate the alarms. (The machine makes sort of a loud clicking sound when it activates, even with the audible alarm turned off. I do wish the flashing light was more obvious though.)

This automatic pill dispenser is working very well for my 89-year old mother who could no longer follow a weekly list of taking her medications. You can set up to 4 times a day for pill dispensing. You can set the alarm for various lengths of time to let them know that the pill(s) are ready to take. I like that because if she's napping at pill time, it will keep beeping until she opens the pill "drawer". The pills remain available until the next time. We have it set to start beeping at 8:30 AMfor her first pill and go for 4 hours - she usually gets it within a few minutes. Then at 4:30 PM the dispenser closes the door and rotates to the next pill drawer and starts beeping, again for 4 hours - just in case she goes out for dinner, and isn't home at 4:30. The last pill "drawer" is still accessible after the beeping stops. The only thing this does not do, is make sure that she actually takes the pill - if she gets interrupted and sets the pills on the counter, there is no guarantee she'll remember to take them. But that is not an issue right now. This is strictly for pill management for someone who doesn't remember to take their pills or may take the same dose more than once. It is not for someone who will actively try to get to the pills before it's time - it could easily be broken into. But it locks well enough that it's not going to accidentally open when it gets moved. Set up is a little tricky, but once you get the hang of it, it's very easy. We started with one pill time a day and changed to 2 - I messed up the first try because I didn't realize the 2nd pill time didn't have the red light lit. But that was my error - I should have read the instructions better. I would recommend this.

Great idea. Works well. However, the sound of the wheel turning is very loud and off-putting, even disturbing for the person whose meds are in there. Please add a cardboard guide for pills given only twice a day. Buzzer is a good tone level. This is NOT for those with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, that may be in a flare. My sister could see the other pills through the tiny crack on the other side of the timed meds, and kept trying to move the wheel and get them, because she thought she should. And, of course where there is a will, there is a way. But...when she was her normal self, it worked very well. Then, it kept her from taking a second dose of her meds and kept her on a schedule. She became too distressed with her OCD from the minimal stress she had from living alone and is now in an assisted living facility. But, I absolutely recommend the Med Ready dispenser. I just wish I had found it sooner in her life. I am so dismayed that institutions, nursing homes, senior centers and assisted living facilities do not know of some of the innovations for seniors and those with dementia or mental disorders. This is one. The RAZ Memory Phone is another. Both of these products made a big difference in my sister's life and her frustration level. Hugs all around to those who love and care for those, who need such products.