Have you ever been on medication, and it seems that you can never remember to take it on time?
Aneel Robinson knows the feeling.
“I’d always be forgetting to take my medication,” the Kent resident said.
In fact, after continuously forgetting to take his blood-pressure meds, Robinson, a devoted entrepreneur, decided to do something about it.
Figuring other people were in same dilemma as him – people with busy lives who may not always be near a clock – Robinson developed his own business, devoted strictly to getting people to take their medicine on time.
By simply signing up online or by phone, medication takers will receive a reminder call from Robinson’s business, telling them it’s time to take their medications.
If they’re on another phone call, or don’t pick up the first time, Robinson’s automated service, called Daily Pill Calls, will redial them up to three times. They also can receive reminder phone calls up to five times a day, for different medication times. Daily Pill Calls can contact people either on their cell phones, or their land-line phones.
It’s a simple principle, and that is why Robinson is optimistic it will catch on.
His business partner and former wife Deborah Robinson, echoes the sentiment.
“We wanted to do something to say, “here’s a reminder so you can stay on track,” she said, noting the service is not only helpful to seniors, who may have many medications and may be forgetful, but also clients such as women who take birth-control pills, or people for whom mental-health medications must be taken at specific times, or else their symptoms become far worse.
“We have too much to do,” said Aneel Robinson.
He developed the business from his own home, purchasing the minutes of automated time from another company, but creating a custom voice-message element.
The fee for the service varies depending on the number of calls the client needs from Daily Pill Calls. The service also doesn’t require a contract, meaning the customer can use it, or discontinue it, whenever they feel it appropriate.
They’re also touting the service for other needs as well.
“It’s not just for pills,” Deborah Robinson said, noting the service can be used a reminder for doctor appointments or other can’t-miss events in a person’s life.
“We could see it expanding to anyone.”
Thus far, Aneel Robinson said they have a couple of hundred subscribers, entering their second month on the market.
In the future, they also are hoping to be able to reach people with text messages, and to develop calling cards, so that people can purchase the service on behalf of others who need it, much as an adult child might do for a parent who wants to remain independent.
This isn’t the first business venture for Aneel Robinson, who smiles and professes he’s got “about 1,000 ideas a day.”
He produces informational videos that he sells to distributors, who in turn sell them to libraries in the U.S. as well as Canada. They can tackle all kinds of topics – from how to earn a GED to one he is currently working on, involving CPR for pets.
A musician with indie inclinations, Aneel Robinson also did a radio show broacast in the United Kingdom, from his Kent home.
He’s also hoping to put some of that musical expertise to work with his call service, injecting some holiday music into the pre-recorded phone calls that his clients will receive.
“I’ll be doing the singing,” he said, with a grin.
LEARN MORE
Daily Pill Calls
On the Web: www.dailypillcalls.com
Or call: 866-532-6855
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