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Summary
This Carelab episode features hosts Emilia Bourland and Dr. Brandy Archie discussing TookTake, a no-tech medication reminder solution invented by Leanna during her breast cancer treatment. Leanna shares her journey of creating TookTake, which helps users easily track their medication schedules. The conversation highlights the versatility and simplicity of TookTake, with examples of its use cases, and provides insights into caregiving, self-care, and the power of practical solutions.
Key Takeaway
- TookTake’s Origin: Leanna developed TookTake during her breast cancer treatment to manage her complex medication regimen effectively.
- Simple Design, Broad Application: TookTake is a sticker system that works on any medication packaging, maintaining original labeling and safety features.
- Caregiver and Patient Benefits: The system reduces caregiver stress and patient uncertainty, fostering better medication adherence and peace of mind.
- Beyond Medications: TookTake has found creative applications, including reminders for household tasks (e.g., changing filters, managing contact lenses).
- Caregiver Self-Care: Leanna emphasizes the importance of caregivers taking care of their well-being to provide effective support to those they care for.
Transcript
Emilia Bourland
Hi, welcome to Care Lab.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Welcome to CareLab is CareLab Day. And we look really good, I think.
Emilia Bourland
We look great. We are, I think we're ready for the holidays. If you're listening slash watching, if you're just listening, you should probably take a look at us as well. Cause we look good.
Dr. Brandy Archie
I agree.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Also watch.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Exactly.
Emilia Bourland
ready. People are going to go get off of their podcast. They're going to go to YouTube and look at this and they're going to be like, they look pretty normal, but we're slightly Christmas-ified. Anyway, welcome to our guest here today. Leanna, how are you?
Dr. Brandy Archie
normal.
Leeanna
I'm doing well, thanks!
Emilia Bourland
And hey, Brandy, you want to put a thing in? Yeah, mark the clip. We should have asked this before. Do you want to introduce Leanna since she's? OK, OK, cool.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Yes. Do I want to mark a clip? I do.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Yeah.
So I'm just going do that now. Okay, marking.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Leanna, we're so glad to have you here. Leanna is the inventor and founder of TookTake dosage reminder labels, a patented design born out of her own experience during breast cancer treatment. Leanna realized the need for an easy, reliable way to track meds, supplements, and other wellness products, regardless of how they come. So her innovative labels make it simple to know when you took your last set of medications or used your medications, helping
Countless people avoid missed doses or double dosing, which we know is so important and one of the main reason people end up back in the hospital. So Leanna is passionate about improving adherence to wellness routines for people of all ages with her no tech user-friendly solution, TookTake. And we're just so glad to have you here to talk about it. So thanks for coming.
Leeanna
Thanks for having me.
Emilia Bourland
Yeah, when I was reading about took take and what you do I have to say I got really really excited So I can't wait to hear more Like about it and and understand how it works and everything but but first We have to do we have to take care of some other business. Are you ready for it? Okay, so here we go. I'm gonna ask you our icebreaker question Leanna you have to go first because you're our guests and we do that to our guests
Leeanna
sure.
Dr. Brandy Archie
That's right.
Emilia Bourland
So, are you ready? Okay. So, it's the holidays. Do you like to travel over the holidays or do you need to be at home in your own warm cozy nest during the holidays? What's your preference?
Leeanna
Yes.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Mmm.
Leeanna
That's a tough one. I like being somewhere else for the holidays. Getting there is usually not fun because it's such a crazy time to travel. So I do think it's fun to do the holidays in different places.
Emilia Bourland
Mm.
Emilia Bourland
Is there somewhere that you've been over the holidays that was like your favorite that hands down you would love to go back there again?
Leeanna
Well, usually we travel to see my husband's family in Iowa and it's really fun because it's a really Midwest Christmas and we're in California so it's fun to see the whole family and have the really big Christmas. I do enjoy doing that.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brandy Archie
That's good. That's good. What about you? Okay, I'll go.
Emilia Bourland
Brandy.
Leeanna
Okay.
Emilia Bourland
It was my question, so you have to go second.
Dr. Brandy Archie
I guess I have to go second. Okay, so I guess it depends. Well, so my husband works at retail. So we don't get to travel at the holidays, but we push at the limits because we usually leave right after Christmas and travel the week between Christmas and New Year's because everybody's done shopping, right? And so retail is a little bit led up a little bit. So we've been doing that.
pretty regularly. So the answer to the question is I like to travel at that period of time. I like doing both things because we have some home traditions too that I like doing at our house. So both.
Emilia Bourland
So I've never actually, I've never traveled over like the Christmas New Year holiday. I'm very open to that. I think I enjoy being actually at home in my home on Christmas. Like I like doing the presents under the trees for the boys and doing all that stuff and kind of just feeling comfortable there. That said, as they get older and as like my husband and I get older, the more appealing it sounds to
like take off and go somewhere cool and kind of escape some of the chaos that comes along with it. But I think traveling over New Year's, like that's something that sounds incredible. I don't know why not. Again, I actually have not done that yet, but it's definitely high on my list. Like one of these years coming up here, we gotta go do something cool for New Year's. Even if it's just taking a road trip and.
like renting a cabin somewhere, but just to get out of town for a little while and kind of chill out after all of the holiday stuff. Hustle and bustle.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Yeah.
Dr. Brandy Archie
muscle and bustle. Exactly. That's why I like it. You can just do both things. Get a vacation from the vacation, from the holidays.
Emilia Bourland
Yes, absolutely.
Dr. Brandy Archie
So since we're not traveling and we're on this podcast, let's talk about Tic-Tac. Leanna, so first I should say Tic-Tac is on Ask Sammy. And one of the main reasons is because it's really easy. And one thing that I always say as an OT who talks about adaptive equipment all the time is that assistive technology can be.
No tech, low tech or high tech. We always think technology is only high tech. And so I love that you described TukTuk as a no tech solution because we're always pushing tech solutions, which are also good. It's just what works better for the person. So can you tell us a little bit about the origin story of like why you decided to do this?
Leeanna
Yeah, I started it during my treatment for breast cancer and I didn't really have an intention of inventing anything But I had all these different medications No I was like laying around in bed and but We had like all these different things because I managed to somehow get like all the side effects So I was constantly getting different things to try to manage them and a lot of them weren't pills and then the ones I'd get were all on different schedules
Emilia Bourland
That wasn't your first priority at that moment.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Right.
Leeanna
And we just had this huge collection of different medications. And I was convinced that I could keep track of them. And my husband would be like, did you take this? And I'm like, maybe I think so. I don't know. And then he'd be like, well, when do you think you took it? I'm like, don't know in the morning. I'm not sure. So I started to put little labels, I mean, on all of the bottles so we could keep track. And it really helped. And it was so simple because it was basically, I just took little like sticky notes and
Dr. Brandy Archie
Yeah.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Leeanna
tore the little tabs into them and like wrote on them. So, you we wouldn't have to play 20 questions every time he came in the room to ask me like what I did recently. And then as the time went on, because was in treatment for a year, and I was in bed most of that time, I started to draw like, you know, if this looked like this, this would be really cool. And we're both graphic designers. So we were, we kind of made that a little project we worked on to give me something to do while I was stuck in bed.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Leeanna
And it really seemed to help it. It gave me something to do. And then by the time I was done, I'm like, you know, these are really handy. Like we did a good job. These really helped us and we had them around because I would like sit and make them in bed, like cut them out from our little printer. And we used them on like our dog's ear medicine. And we were finding other things in the house to like use them for. And that's when we thought, hey, this might actually be a good business.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Emilia Bourland
So how, I'm really curious, because I actually have not seen Took, Take before. I don't know exactly how it works. Can you describe that or show how it works? Do you have anything there with you? Yay. OK.
Dr. Brandy Archie
That's perfect.
Leeanna
Okay.
Leeanna
Yeah. Yeah. So like this is a little prescription bottle. The sun is just coming through my window here. So you just stick it on any bottle box package, whatever you're taking. It doesn't have to be a prescription bottle. And then there's little perforated tabs with the days of the week on there. And we also make hourly versions or short term, like 10 day ones, monthly ones. But this is a daily one. It's most popular. And then when you take your dose for the day, you just pull off this little perforated tab.
It's like really lightly sticky, kind of like a Post-it or something. You just tear it off and then you know if you took it or still need to take it. later when you're like, because my problem now, have something I take once a day is it's so routine that like literally a minute later I turn around and look at the bottle. I'm like, did I take that? Like it's still sitting in front me. I'm like, I can't take it twice. then normally like if I didn't have this, I would skip it. But since I do, I look at them like, yeah, I did do it, huh?
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brandy Archie
to take it.
Emilia Bourland
totally. Yes.
Leeanna
Yay me!
Dr. Brandy Archie
You
Emilia Bourland
That's awesome. I love that. It's such a simple, kind of elegant idea that really anyone could use. I just think ideas like that are so phenomenal because it doesn't really require any kind of new learning or new skill set. Like, pretty much anyone can do this.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Right?
Leeanna
Yeah, because when I was in treatment, you know, I joke about it now, but I'm like, yeah, the drugged up person shouldn't be in charge of the drugs because I was convinced I did all kinds of things that I didn't do. So I like it's, it's, you know, it's really handy now, but it was extra handy then because I was very unreliable with my information.
Dr. Brandy Archie
You
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brandy Archie
So that brings me, that brings up a really good question. So Care Lab's goal is to be able to provide resources and comfort essentially to people who are caring for others. And I know you're not him, but do you have like any feedback from your husband's perspective of like after you actually developed this and y'all were using it, how did it work for him? Like how did it make y'all's relationship easier, his caregiving easier for you as you were going through your cancer treatment?
Leeanna
He loved it because, like I said, he'd asked me, he was really concerned if I took stuff, cause if I waited too long, I'd get really uncomfortable with things like the pain medication or the anti-nausea medication was as needed, but still not like too often. So it gave him peace of mind to know when something was given, like if he gave it to me or if I took it, if I took the tab off, then he knew, or he wouldn't wake me up to say like, when did you take this last?
So it really helped him a lot. That's why it took a lot of stress out of his sort of caregiving role to not have to keep track of it on like a piece of paper, a chart, or rely on me.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Emilia Bourland
Yeah, can honestly like I can I can kind of speak to that personally as well. And obviously, like I didn't have took take when this was happening. I wish I would have. But my mom had a couple of surgeries. She was staying with me and you like my mom is completely with it. She doesn't have any kind of just like you know, cognitive issues or anything like that. But it's a lot to manage when something major has happened to your body. Right. So like I was trying to help make sure that
Leeanna
Yeah.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Emilia Bourland
you know, that everything was okay. And we used like a big medication reminder, which I think is a great tool. But there were times, especially in the beginning, when we were first getting things sorted out, when I don't know how much anxiety my mom had about it, but I was having a lot of anxiety about whether or not certain things had or hadn't been taken. Because, you know, as a health care provider, I'm like playing all of these scenarios about what does or doesn't happen if we don't take our meds correctly, right? So I mean, just
Leeanna
Mm-hmm.
Emilia Bourland
Personally, I can think, wow, as someone in that kind caregiving position, even for a temporary amount of time, that would have been really, really helpful to alleviate that anxiety and absolutely know, especially in the beginning, what was taken and what wasn't.
Leeanna
Yeah, and like, we haven't tried like the pill containers, but then soon as we thought we had a system, we'd get something that was a liquid or a lotion or, or it would be like, well, you take this for two days, twice a day, and then switch to once a day. And it was like a math problem trying to figure it out in the pill cases, because we had like four of them. And then the as needed things were just like, you know, just complete gamble because we had varied when I would take it.
Emilia Bourland
Mmm
Dr. Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Emilia Bourland
Yeah.
Leeanna
So that's when we started to be like, let's leave it all in the bottle. Cause also we weren't a family that, you know, luckily had a lot of medication. So we didn't even really have any system to reference or base it on. So we weren't used to taking things. So then if we took them out of the bottle, it wasn't like, I should have remembered what shape that one was. Cause I don't know which one this is. It fell or it went in the wrong thing. It's like, I don't even know what this is anymore. Cause it's not in the bottle and they all look kind of similar at a certain point.
Dr. Brandy Archie
yeah.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Yeah, that's such a good point too because I think the default answer in, I don't know, Amelia can correct me if I'm wrong, but to me, feel like the thing that we say all the time is put in a pill dispenser, put in a pill case, right?
Emilia Bourland
Yeah, for sure.
Dr. Brandy Archie
But what we don't do, we don't recognize that the pill bottle actually carries information. know, like we get to see what this pill actually is and give it its name and its dosage is written there. It might be too little to read, but it is at least there. And so keeping it the bottle could be a benefit for somebody and just needing to have some kind of solution.
Emilia Bourland
I also think a lot of times folks who have like early stage dementia or like mild cognitive impairment, know, taking medications can be something that's really challenging for these folks. And it can also be challenging to help them take medications sometimes because if you take it out of the bottle and you're putting it in a medication reminder or pill box or something,
then sometimes folks can get suspicious of what that is, which is actually totally understandable. Like we wanna know what we're putting in our body. So it can actually make it harder sometimes to get folks with early stage dementia or middle stage dementia to take their medications because it's hard for them to see or understand what it is. with, know, keeping it actually in the bottle and having that simple reminder. Again, I think...
These are still folks who would need assistance with that. Like this isn't a solution that would make someone totally independent with their medication management, but it's a great way, I think, to help encourage folks to take their medications as directed because they can see there on the bottle what it is, what it's for, and that there's a marker of when it actually was or wasn't taken. Like that's huge.
Leeanna
Mm-hmm.
Leeanna
But I think also there's so many younger people like I think people assume if you're taking medication, they automatically jump to the elderly. And but there's so many people who take something they have one pill they take once a day for anxiety, cholesterol, like, you know, blood pressure, all kinds of things. And they don't want to have to sort this one pill into these little containers. And it's easier if they keep it in the bottle. And then also other people in the house can see like,
Emilia Bourland
Mm.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Leeanna
You know, I keep mine on the counter in our kitchen, kind of like tucked by the coffee maker. And sometimes like my husband will be like, Hey, you know, it doesn't look like you took this today. I'm like, yeah, I didn't. Thanks. So it helps other people be involved in a really simple way where they're not, you know, having to ask you or push you, you do this? Did you do this? Did you take this one? You can just kind of casually look and see and, you know, help them out, give them a nudge if you see they didn't take it.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Yeah, I think it's such an important point, especially when there's multiple people in the house, because, like, for instance, my husband has pills, he likes to keep them out so that he can be visually reminded to take them. We also have little people, and while they can't get into the bottles, I think he kind of has this system of, upside down is one thing, and right side up is another. See, I don't even know what the system is. But if a kid comes and knocks it off the table or it gets moved, then that probably messed up his system.
Leeanna
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brandy Archie
And if I, then I don't really have to be the nag to be like, what is this for? Why is this here? Did you take it? Do you need to take it? So I just ask nothing, but that's not helpful either because what if it got forgotten? You know, and so just to have something on there to just visually recognize whether you did or not. And also just for your own self, to just remember if you did it or not, it makes it so much easier for everybody to be a part of that and make sure that, that the medication you get taken, cause they don't get taken or they get taken too much.
This is problematic.
Leeanna
Yeah. And like kids meds that are usually liquid, it's really great because it stops the, you do it? Did you do it? Did you know you had kids are incredibly unreliable. Like my daughter would say no to like, dude, I'm like, did, did you already have this? I'm like, are you sure? Cause she didn't want to it again. So she was like,
Dr. Brandy Archie
Uh-huh.
Or you might have my kids who are the other way around who like they think that stuff tastes like candy. And so they're like, it's time for medicine. And I'm like, didn't we do this already? How long ago did we take this? So they're going to say yes to everything too.
Emilia Bourland
Uh-huh.
Leeanna
Yeah, when was that? So yeah, so I just think it's, I like that it's simple and it can help everyone in some way. And that makes me kind of happy that it's just, it's a little thing, but it helps.
Emilia Bourland
I have a question for you for clarification, because I think it could be, I think people might get confused about this. So, TukTak is, it's a sticker that you can put on any bottle, right? It's not a separate bottle system. Can you clarify that just so people don't get confused about kind of what they're looking at?
Leeanna
Mm-hmm.
Leeanna
Yeah, that's a great thing. Yeah, okay. It's a little sticker. You can stick it on anything. So if your medication comes in a box in a bottle and a tube, however it comes, you just stick it right on there. So everything stays in its original package. So if it's child safe, it stays child safe. You have all the directions, the expiration information, the refill information, everything's right there. So whether it's like, over the counter or a supplement, you still can see everything and
Dr. Brandy Archie
Fish if they're not watching.
Leeanna
The other good thing about that that I've been told by pharmacists is a lot of things should stay in the package they come in. Like it's packaged that way for a reason. They make those bottles amber colored or dark or whatever for a reason. So it's a good idea to leave them in there.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Mmm.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. Has the development of TukTuk led you to any other ideas for new things to come out underneath your brand or new ways that people have used it that you really didn't necessarily intend for it to happen, but they're finding good use cases for it?
Leeanna
We get a lot of people ready and sharing on social media with interesting use cases that I didn't think of just because they'll have them. They come four in a package. So a lot of times people are like, well, I have them, I'm going to start sticking them on everything. So we have someone who uses them to keep track of their contact lenses because they're supposed to get change them every two weeks, but they would forget. So when they keep it on the bottle of the cleaner so that when they're done with the two weeks, they know to throw the contacts away because they're like,
realized they'd been using it way too long. And, a mom who let her daughter get her ears pierced. And I think she was said she was like eight or nine, but she, the deal was that she had to show she could take care of them and do the cleaning of them every day. It's like she put it on the cleaning solution for the pierced ears to give her daughter the responsibility, but be able to check up on her in a quiet way. so a lot of things like that are monthly label people have been using like on
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Yep.
Leeanna
humidifiers to remember to change the filter every month or someone stuck it on the refrigerator to know when they last changed the water filter. So a lot of like household uses just things that you look at every so often are like, I have no idea what we change that or clean that.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Emilia Bourland
I just love how simple this solution is. And that's why people can apply it so many different ways, right? But the power of visual cues in our world to remind us to do something, and then in your case with Toot Take, to doubly say whether or not you've actually done the thing. It's just so, I mean, it's like a checklist for...
Dr. Brandy Archie
Mm-hmm.
Emilia Bourland
Checklists for your medications, checklists for your life. I'm a big fan of checklists in general to like get through things and make sure that they get done. I just, mean, I'm very, I'm fan girling over this very hard right now because it's so simple and anyone can use it and those are the best kinds of things.
Leeanna
Me too.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Yep.
Leeanna
I agree. I like simple.
Dr. Brandy Archie
So I guess my question for you to let everybody else know, is there anything else that you would want to share with family caregivers that you think is useful or has happened in your life or you've seen play out in other ways?
Leeanna
which took Tinker just in general.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Anything. Yeah, because you come from both ways, right? You can you invented a thing, but you also were a patient, right? And you did you had a year's journey at least of dealing with cancer. And so, yeah, I just feel like from your perspective as person from all those angles, what what else would you share with people who are caring, caring for others?
Leeanna
I think for the caregiver, I mean, I saw with my husband and my daughter when they were taking care of me is just also making sure you're taking care of yourself because I mean, I saw them so worried so much of the time with me that they didn't really, you know, I had to like force them to take care of themselves or go watch a movie or go do something and I think in extreme cases, it
it becomes overwhelming and I think just knowing it's okay to take care of yourself too. Because it was hard for me to watch them falling apart, but there wasn't anything I could do about it in that moment. I think just, you know, remember you need care too.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Mmm.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Yeah, that's so valuable. And I feel like if you've been listening to CareLab for a little while, this is a running theme. did not cue her to say that, but this just means that it is necessary. And like you're hearing it from a person who was being cared for, you know, like it's really important that you recognize that too, from all angles. You can't help if you can't help. Like if you can't help. So.
Emilia Bourland
Mm-mm.
Leeanna
Hehehehehe
Dr. Brandy Archie
I really appreciate you being on the podcast today. It's awesome for you to create something out of your own pain and struggles, and now it's helping others. I love that it's an Ask Sammy, because it's a great and simple solution. Besides going there, what ways can people connect with you if they want to follow up after the podcast or find you out in the world?
Leeanna
took take calm is the best place if you write in through our website It's me who answers I do everything on there so I can answer any questions. That's where you can order took take You can also get to take on Amazon and at CVS stores, but the best place is really our website Or ask Sammy of course
Dr. Brandy Archie
Thank you very much.
Emilia Bourland
Well, Leanna, thank you so much for being on today. Thanks for sharing your story. And as Brandy said, making something positive out of it that people can really use to benefit their own lives. think that, like, I have so much admiration for, in a moment when things weren't necessarily going that great, finding a problem and a solution at the same time, and then having like the
forward to to go and actually make the thing and get it out there in the world. Absolutely incredible. Thank you so much for being here today.
Leeanna
Thank you so much for having me.
Emilia Bourland
All right, dear listener, if you enjoyed this episode, if you made it all the way to the end, then please make sure to like, subscribe, leave a comment, and leave a review. If there's something that you want us to talk about, have a question, want to know about, definitely leave it in the comments. We would love to answer any questions or bring up any topics that you're looking for. Until next time, we'll see you right here, back on Care Lab.
Dr. Brandy Archie
Bye guys!
Emilia Bourland
Bye.
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