Are there home care agencies that will go daily to dispense medications?

This is a very good question. I want an answer to it also. I'll ask my daughter to check it out for me and will share her findings here. It seems such a service would be available and it would certainly be of great advantage to you.

Most Home Health Agencies will send a staff nurse by everyday for a fee. It could become very expensive. I would suggest you talk with several to find one you will be most comfortable with. I would also suggest you discuss having only one or two nurses assigned to maintain a relationship with your mother. You don't want a stranger 2 or 3 times per week.

I went through the medication crisis with my mom 3 years ago. I hired a home health care agency who sent out someone twice a day. It was basically the same 3 women coming to my mom's apartment. There were two problems with this scenario. My mom has Parkinson's and dementia that comes and goes. She would send the agency people away at least twice a week and call me at work to come and "give her the medicine." The other issue was that this cost $35 an hour! The really awful thing is that my mom is now in assisted living in a memory care facility. She packs her clothes and possessions on a daily basis. The caregivers unpack her. This has gone on for a year and a half. If it wasn't for the medicine issue and firing all the caregivers, she could probably come live with me and my husband. My mom has about 11 more months on her long term insurance which covers most of her assisted living. I have no idea how to manage this situation when we run out of money. I will say that I depleted the majority of her money and savings on the agency people coming to dole out the medicine. I am not sure if I regret that decision on my part. It is 3 years later, 3 lost jobs later due to incessant calls, and I am in exactly the same situation. The only difference is that instead of my mom having $90,000 in the bank, we are down to $3,000!

When I read this thread it made me feel better about having placed my Mom in a nursing home. She has been there over a year now. Even thought she hates being there (that in another issue altogether), I know she is getting the care she needs. She is 91 and has dementia. She keeps insisting that she can live on her own and all she has to do is call someone and they will shop for her. I went throught the exact same sceneario about Mom sending away caregivers. When she was still living in her own home, she suffered a brain hemmorhage. After hospitalization and rehab, I brought her back to her place for recovery. I live across the country from her and have a wonderful husband who didn't mind me being gone for a few months. To make a long story short, I left her alone (with the Dr's blessing) and within two weeks she was back in the hospital. From there the transition to a nursing facility took place. Before this all happened I had all her assets put into a Irrevocable Living Trust. We have spent the last year paying out of pocket for her care. Medicaid has been applied for. The nursing home is $225 per day (you do the math). We have spent down all her income and done whatever is required to quality for aide. It is a long painful process but well worth it to have peace of mind. I was pleased to see I made the right decision for myself and Mom. To answer the question, yes they will come to your home but they also charge an arm and a leg. I truly believe that my Mom's brain hemorrhage was brought about by sky rocketing blood pressure because she was not taking her medication properly and she would not allow anyone to help her manage her life.

Since she has no money she will be placed medicaide pending and the nursing home will do the paperwork some social workers are lazy and expect the children to do it her NH expenses are not your responsibility -use her money to see an elder lawyer asap and he will advise you in your situation-meanwhile take tours of nursing homes in your area so you at least have an idea of how things will be for her. It sounds like she needs a nursing home since she can not take her meds and sends away people sent to help her.

In Oregon a caregiver through an agency can dispense medicine if she has been trained and is supervised by a nurse. The cost for the caregiver would be in the $21-$22/hour range. This is assuming she is there for several hours and does other things. The nurse would need to set the meds up and do supervisory visits and this would be more expensive but after initial setup, would need to be checked after 2 week and then only quarterly.

Yes. Contact a caregiver agency. Tell them what you want. Shay is correct. Most states have similar arrangements.

I worked in home health for many years prior to taking care of my mother. I would go to different clients home and do different things as: bathing, meal prep, errands, and even medications reminders. However, the agency required that an aide be there at least an hour. Even If I just went to give meds that took only moments. So I would then tidy up for the rest of the time or anything else family requested for the hour. It is expensive but if that is your only option to ensure she gets her meds accordingly. If she qualifies for medicaid, they will pay for that service instead of out of pocket.

There are monitored medicine dispensing machines you can purchase. They have either an alarm or voice telling them to take their medicine and if they don't the system will call or text you to let you know they've missed a dose. I haven't used one, but it may be worth looking into.

I own a home health agency and we have the machines you are referring to. Our RN prefills them evey two weeks. They are plug in with a backup battery. The RN sets the time for the medications to be taken and the machine will start beeping and will get louder and louder until the client has lifted up the dispenser bar. If the client does not take the medication it locks after a period of time and continues to rotate like a clock until the next time pills are to be taken. When the nurse goes into redo the medications, whatever medications have been missed will still be in the machine. Therefore, determining if this is still a viable option for the client.