When the developers of smart pill boxes and cloud software discovered that two of their staff were diagnosed with tuberculosis (TB), they found themselves in a prime position to assist the patients with state-of-the-art technology to ease the journey to recovery.
Today they are strong and healthy, just six months after their diagnosis, and both are inspired to remove the stigma associated with chronic illness. They also hope to motivate others to look after themselves and educate the community at large that this disease is curable and there are support systems to guide them along the way.
Lloyd and Ricci Marshall of Somerset West founded Wisepill Technologies in 2007 to tackle the challenging problem of medication non-adherence in both developed and developing countries.
Today the business has grown to serve government programmes, clinical trials, research studies and is exported to 21 countries.
“Our products assist caregivers to assist patients, primarily those will chronic illnesses such as TB and HIV, better,” says Lloyd.
Last year staff members Hazel Vundle and Lucia Mqhukuse, both residents of Nomzamo, found themselves losing weight and feeling tired.
On visits to the doctor it was discovered they had contracted TB, diagnosed just months apart.
“I was skinny and coughing a lot,” Vundle related.
“Soon after I was diagnosed I was had to go to the clinic daily for medication for three weeks, and then I was given a set of meds to take at home daily for a month.”
Similarly Mqhukuse, and both reached out to the Marshalls.
It was at the point they were given medication to take at home on a daily basis that they started using Wisepill.
The Wisepill electronic pillbox is designed to monitor patient adherence and to provide instant feedback via cellphone and internet technologies. Unlike the many reminder systems on the market that nag users to remember to take their medicine, a system was created to remind users only when they forget.
By applying this innovative methodology, Wisepill was able to demonstrate a significant improvement in adherence.
“It worked so well for us,” said Mqhukuse.
“Sometimes we would be lazy, tired or even sleeping, but the alarm would sort of encourage us and we always knew the correct dosage required. It was amazing.”
For the Marshalls the opportunity to assist staff members with a product they’ve fine-tuned for more than a decade was both a privilege and personal.
“It was honestly a very satisfying experience,” said Lloyd.
“We’ve seen this technology very successfully implemented in programmes around the world but to witness this successful result right at home is very refreshing.”
The two staff members went regularly to the clinic for testing and check-ups, and both were declared TB-free just six months after their diagnosis.
“It’s really a feeling of joy when you see how useful technology has become in just providing ease of access in a box. We’re grateful for what we do”.
