Med-e-lert Automatic Pill Dispenser 28 Day 7 Day 4 Times - CLEAR Lid

I agree with the others' comments - this product is a great value - brings peace of mind that my mother is not accidentally overdosing or mixing up her meds. The pills with gel outer shells can jam up the rotation of the tray especially on warm days. Also, it seemed that the batteries didn't last long at first and the indicator that the batteries were dead is very small/hard to read. I just keep a set of 4 spare AA's with me and watch for the warning on the panel now. I recently bought a back-up med-e-lert with the extra tray with cover. We could not operate without this thing, so I didn't want to ever be without one. Unfortunately the cover for the extra tray fits so tightly that if you had pills in the tray and tried to remove the cover, they would surely fly out. Good idea, bad execution. The spare I just bought had a lot of warnings about the product being difficult to set up. It is not that hard. And once it is set up, there's not much more you need to do unless you want to change the timing of the meds. Lastly-I was wishing the med-e-lert came with a travel bag, so that when we take my mom out for shopping, apptmts, etc. we have something nice that keeps the tray horizontal. Just realized that my BYO Rambler lunch tote from Built NY (purchased via amazon.com) is a perfect travel bag for the med-e-lert. I hope this helps.

The product works great once you get it programmed correcftly. If you only need to provide pills twice a day. make sure you go to all 4 alarm slots and delete default times. Also make sure caretakers who load pills set the opening BEFORE the next pill time or it will be off the correct pill cycle. Once everyone understands. you will have great peace of mind that pills are being taken correctly without constant intervention.

I purchased this device for my mother, who has mild dementia and has trouble remembering her 4-times-a-day medication schedule. This automatic dispenser has been worth every penny. Setting the timer and loading the pills was a snap. The device is small enough that it can be taken with you if you're away from home for the day.

My tips: If the carousel lid does not open easily, it is probably locked and you will need to use the small key to unlock it. I keep the dispenser key, a chart of my mother's medication schedule, and her bottles of pills in a sturdy, plastic see-through carrier. The dispenser has 28 pill slots, so I reload it once a week.

My mother has no problems self-medicating now with this handy dispenser and she is healthier because she is taking the correct doses, on time, as prescribed. Home health care nurses have been impressed by the Med-e-lert dispenser and have told us they will suggest it for their other patients. I definitely recommend this product.

I bought this product to help my mom and dad keep my mom's medicines straight. I am still trying to make sure I know how to use it before I give it to them. Any changes will require me to reprogram it and we likely will have a challenge teaching dad to learn how to refill it weekly.

Great idea and works well, but complicated to program/change the program.

This works GREAT. With my mother's memory not very good, she could not remember when she took her pills. I have to work so was not able to be at home when it was time for her pain medication. Often times she would take it much too early and I worried about an overdose and then she was in a lot of pain before it was time to take the next dose. This way, I don't have to worry. It's on the table and she can't open it to take the medications until it is time for her to do so. It's made a big difference in how she feels as well. Taking her medication at a specific time (instead of when she thought she should take them) has helped her manage her pain much better and she is doing so much better than before.
The next best thing was the price!!! I could not believe the price of these types of products. Why pay hundreds of dollars when this one works GREAT.

This is a wonderful product, it does exactly what I wanted it to and works well. The only drawback is that it needs a little better lock, my 5-yr. old opened it with her fingernail.

I was using a seven day, S-M-T-W-T-F-S style container to dispense 5 pills a day but mom couldn't leave it alone. I would find pills moved around or aspirin or antacids or anything else sometimes mixed in. She would occasionally lose track of what day it was so it was hard to look and wonder if she missed a day, took the wrong day or just moved things around. This dispenser is tamper proof enough so she can't open it to move things around or put other things in. It only allows her to get at the pills she needs at the time I set. That has been a tremendous relief. Another plus is you can fill out as many days as you want rather than only seven with case. I bought the clear cover so anyone can tell at a glance how many dosages are left.
I got permission from Dr to take all meds in AM and set alarm for eight. I try to call every morning as well because pills can be dumped out to turn off alarm and then left if person gets easily distracted. The call usually goes "yes the machine went off and I took my pills". If she says "yes it went off and they are on the table" I get her to take while we are on phone. It's not fool proof but I am now convinced it's a much better way to handle meds than what we had.
A couple of visiting nurses also thought it was great. One wrote down the info and said she was going to suggest to some of her other patients.
I think it would be difficult for elderly to set up time, alarms, etc. There are a number of steps and buttons to push but a caregiver should be able to handle initially. I followed instructions and got it set up in about five minutes.
Price was great. In researching I saw similar units at $100+ and some more sophisticated ones up to $600. So far, this one is doing what it needs to do just fine.
All in all I am very satisified with this product.

This works exactly as advertized. Much cheaper than competing products. My mom was messing up her pills and this product solved that problem.

Purchased this at the beginning of March 2011. They had my mom so messed up on a medication that made it impossible for her to 'function' and she was so tired all the time she didn't know what time/day it was, SO of course she couldn't take her medication on the right schedule that was supposed to actually help her dementia issues. Finally got her off the bad medicine [actually it's all bad], but were so concerned about her being able to take medication on time put her in a nursing home.

$3500 later we realize this little pill dispenser would have done the trick. Got her home after realizing the nursing home was a bad/depressing environment and she never missed a pill in over 2.5 months. The alarm actually was waking her up in the morning, but now she has naturally started waking up using her internal clock before the alarm goes off. Since we are using the "3 times per day" schedule, it also reminds her about lunch time and dinner time. Kinda generally keeps her on a schedule. PLUS, we now can see if certain medication are really good for her, without being concerned with whether she took them on the recommended schedule.

Side note: Don't trust doctors, especially ones of a 'different culture'. They basically see your elder parent as a guinea pig for pharmaceuticals and also will prescribe medications [especially during hospitalization] that they know aren't covered by normal insurance. They'll bankrupt a fixed income senior in a matter of months. Reseach ANYTHING they prescribe, especially regarding 'side effects' of drugs. They'll actually prescribe drugs to deal with the side effects of other drugs they prescribed, and suddenly your 70+ parent will be a physical/mental wreck...which they'll prescribe something for also. I never imagined returning the favor of protecting my elder parent would mean protecting them from the doctors and 'programs' that need their membership for grants. Scary.

That all said. My parent is improving and living independently with at least some thanks going to this pill despenser. Best 70 bucks I've spent all year.

GREAT IDEA, great for people with memory issues. No overdoses, No forgetting to take meds!
I bought 2 one was defective after 30 days and it was replaced promptly.