Pill tell helps patients organize

Guy Pollard of Springfield created a prescription organizer, the Pill tell system, in 2003. He said he came up with the idea for the system while caring for his wife, Helen, who has Alzheimer’s disease.

He had taken one of each of his wife’s pills and taped it to a piece of cardboard, accompanied by the name and purpose of each medication.

“The doctor went bananas over this little thing,” Guy Pollard said. “I thought, if there’s so much interest in this from the doctors, maybe there’s something to this.”

The result is the Pill Tell system – a large cardboard “book” – which includes areas for doctor contact information and emergency contacts for the patient.

The main component of the system, though, is the pill organizer: a set of clear plastic compartments that allow the patient or caregiver to see each pill, along with areas for descriptions of each medication’s name and purpose.

The system, Pollard points out, is not a pill dispenser; it can, however, be used as an aid to fill a dispenser.

Earlier this year, Pollard began marketing his Pill Tell system at three area companies – Family Pharmacy, McQueary Bros. Drug Co. and Bach Medical Supply – for a suggested price of $19.95.