About a month ago, Gowland signed her aunt up for Senior Helpers' MedServ program - which provides a registered nurse to manage medications for seniors who can't do it for themselves.
Susan Oberley, a MedServ nurse, fills marked pill boxes every two weeks with Canapp's morning and evening medications. She monitors the prescriptions and communicates with Canapp's pharmacy and physicians. An aide comes daily to fix meals and run errands with Canapp, and she reminds the elderly woman after breakfast and dinner to take her pills.
"I watch her to make sure she takes it," said Rose Davis, the aide.
With so many people checking on her well-being, Canapp said, "I feel like a movie star."
Save the dementia, Canapp is in relatively good health for her age, Gowland said. While living briefly with Gowland, her aunt yearned to be at her own house, where she could work in her yard, a favorite pastime.
"This helps her because she can stay here, she can go where she wants to go, she can do what she wants to do," Gowland said.
And it also has been good for Gowland.
"It's peace of mind," she said, "because I know she's getting everything she needs. She couldn't be on her own without it."
tanika.white@baltsun.com
By the numbers
25 Percentage of seniors who receive prescriptions from five or more doctors
50 Approximate percentage of older Americans who improperly manage medication
23 Percentage of nursing home admissions due to patients failing to take prescription medications properly
2 Approximate factor by which people age 65 and older were more likely to require an emergency room visit because of an adverse drug incident
[Sources: American Geriatrics Society, Good Samaritan Nursing Center, Journal of the American Medical Association, Medco Health Solutions]
