High number of senior’s medications leads to call for government help

Rick Page is a Saint John senior who has to deal with a lot of medications.

“It’s a handful in the morning, a handful at lunch, a handful at suppertime and needles all day long,” Page said.

Global News actually counted Page’s medications. There were 15 in total, not counting needles for his diabetes. He admits it’s hard to keep track.

“I’ll get in and fix them all up and be short one and have to wait and then forget to put them back later and you end up taking three pills instead of four,” Page said. “It just messes me up”.

Statistics suggest non-compliance with medications leads to a large percentage of hospitalizations, especially among seniors, at a huge cost to the health care system.

Not adhering to medication accounts for almost 70 per cent of medication-related hospitalizations. That costs the health care system up to $9 billion per year.

Pharmacists play a major role in helping patients manage their meds.

Greg MacIntyre is a pharmacist at Shoppers Drug Mart. He says there are plenty of examples where patients don’t adhere to their medication, including on purpose.

“They’re on their cholesterol medication, they’ve gotten a test result back and that result says it’s good,” MacIntyre said. “So now they feel like they don’t have to take their medication anymore but it’s that medication that is keeping that result good.”

Compliance packs have helped people keep better track of their meds and the scope of practice of a pharmacist has also been expanded.

“We can assess the patient, we can adapt prescriptions for ones that are covered by a third-party drug plan or there might be more appropriate therapy and we can renew medications,” MacIntyre said.

Cecille Cassista of the Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents Rights admits it’s a serious issue.

“Because of over medication (seniors) ended up in the hospital and were not able to come back home because they had no one to administer their medications,” Cassista said.

She’s calling for a government pilot project allowing licensed medical professionals to assist seniors with their medications at home.

“This is a home of seniors and it’s a huge adjustment when they have to move to a special care home,” she said.