Simple solutions can help fill gaps in healthcare

FERGUS FALLS, Minn. — Martha Hitzeman is legally blind, and at 87, needs medication for pain and to prevent strokes. But sometimes she forgets to take her pills. "She was starting to miss doses, sometimes maybe four or five doses in 10 days," said her daughter, Marie Fuchs. "So I knew she wasn't getting the medication she needed." Fuchs, who manages her mother's medication, enrolled Hitzeman last August in MedSmart, a pilot project run by PioneerCare a long-term-care facility in Fergus Falls.