Interview with Tom Carson
Gary Barg: Tom, talk to me about the challenges of medication management, nonadherence or what we used to call noncompliance.
Tom Carson: Sure, statistics tell us 3 out of 4 people in the US are nonadherent with daily medications. Medication nonadherence is statically one the biggest threats we have. It is responsible for 342 deaths per day, 25% of hospital and nursing home admissions and 50% of treatment failures.
What I’ve discovered over the years is the difference between convenient and inconvenient. The most convenient thing you can do to manage your health is take medication versus changing your lifestyle. The process of taking medication is a multistep process that becomes inconvenient when you add multiple layers to that. I think most people get in trouble when they have multiple daily medications that require all these steps and they fail to follow them.
Gary Barg: Tom, what is Total Linked Care? How does it address the needs of our loved ones who need to take medication and the caregivers who are tasked to administer the medications?
Tom Carson: Total Linked care is a simple, smart, and secure way to manage, take, and monitor daily medication. Taking medication is a complex process and we have focused our efforts on ending the complexity for both the recipient and caregiver. Total Linked Care serves as a connected care assistant that assures medications are being taken while providing peace of mind for the recipient and caregiver. We have developed a simple and convenient process with the input of family caregivers, recipients and individuals who deal with complex daily medications.
We are seeing life-changing results with our clients.
Gary Barg: : There’s a video of you on your website that has you introducing the Total Linked Care medication dispenser which is on the counter next to a Keurig® coffee machine. It occurred to me that taking medication, especially with the multiple medications, the multiple times a day our loved ones have to take it, should be as easy as pushing a button on a Keurig® and getting a cup of coffee.
Tom Carson: I was inspired by my mom never forgetting her cup of coffee. The simple convenience of her Keurig® inspired me in the design of Total Linked Care. From storage, management, and actually taking medication, the management of multiple daily medications can become complex. Total Linked Care offers one touch daily medication convenience for the entire family.
Gary Barg: Walk me through how it works having a TLC, Total Linked Care, in my loved one’s house.
Tom Carson: I spent a lot of time on research and found the problem with modern pill dispensers is that different size and shapes of pills limit the ability to dispense all pills. Our dispenser had to be a dose delivery of all pills without the need to get into a different access point. That became the package, the dose package. The dose package removes the limitations of the modern pill dispenser and creates the ability to be used by more than one person for their daily medications.
Recipients respond to the alert, touch the screen and receive video cues on the next action to take. For dispensing, they simply open the drawer, and the dose package is dispensed. All activity on the dispenser is programmed and monitored remotely which makes each event a connected care experience.
Gary Barg: What is unique and better about the TLC than any other solution out there?
Tom Carson: I needed a way to assist my mom remotely. I have a smartphone and I use it all the time. Its’ my main point of connection with my family and friends and now that includes my mom taking her daily medication. It all comes across my smartphone. If she happens to miss an alarm, I can call her and make sure she’s okay and while I have her on the phone, I can reset a missed alarm and get her the medication. We added a camera to take a picture of the recipient when they dispense their medication which has a time and date stamped photo.
Total Linked Care is a patented innovation in dispensing and care management software. This required years of research to prove we had a unique solution. Dose dispensing, the ability to dispense to more than a single recipient and software for caregiving are the unparalleled differences to anything on the market today.
Gary Barg: This is really medication management, designed by and for a caregiver.
Tom Carson: Absolutely 100%! It all began out of personal need as a caregiver for my mom. Her medications were an issue for both of us. I needed help from anyone who had experience dealing with the same issue. I asked everyone I could and found out we all shared the same issues and concerns. This information became the key design requirements for Total Linked Care.
Gary Barg: How do I find out more about Total Linked Care?
Tom Carson: Visit our website. If you would like a personal demo via zoom to make sure Total Linked Care is the right solution for you, contact me directly at tom@totalinkedcare.com to schedule a time that is convenient for you.