Letran SHS students create tool to help with taking medications

Colegio de San Juan de Letran senior high school students came up with an innovation that will make it easier to take medications on time and correctly.

Motivated by their experiences caring for elderly relatives, Grade 12 STEM students Paulo Benedict Mendoza, John Marcel Estillore, Alyssa Gael Aquino, and Veronica Flores developed DoseRx Medivance.

“May grandfather po ako sa Pampanga. Siya lang po mag-isa, and we're not there to remind him to take medicine on time… Caregivers are kind of pricey, and we cannot afford it. So, we came to this idea,” Flores told GMA News Online.

(I have a grandfather in Pampanga. He is alone, and we’re not there to remind him to take medicine on time… Caregivers are kind of pricey, and we cannot afford it. So, we came to this idea.)

“Sa bahay po namin, my grandmother po always has maintenance [medicine] for her sickness po. So nakita ko po sa kwarto niya, may malaking cardboard po. Then, may nakasulat po na yung time po ng medication. So, naisip po namin na mag-focus na lang po sa healthcare, sa pills ng elderly,” added Estillore.

(In our house, our grandmother always has maintenance [medicine] for her sickness. I saw in her room there was a large cardboard with the time of her medication. That is why we thought to focus on healthcare and pills for the elderly.)

Photo: Jiselle Anne Casucian/GMA Integrated News

According to the group, the current prototype can operate through a schedule set through an application, with magnet-powered chambers holding medicine that automatically open at set times.

The prototype also has sensors that indicate whether a chamber is loaded with medicine or not.

It took more than a year to create, beginning in June 2024, and it evolved into a travel-sized gadget with four chambers and timers that open each system automatically.

“We have the interface all laid out. The features we want to create are built within the app and at the same time work along with the prototype,” Aquino said, as the group intends to further improve the device.

Through this project, the group was able to join and win technology competitions such as PacketHacks, Hackathon, and ImagineGovPH in 2024.

“If given the time and the opportunity, we would love to join more hackathons. Since, yun po, parang 'pag nakasanayan mo rin naman kasi, (Since we have gotten used to it,) so it's hard to let those opportunities slip your fingers,” Flores said. —VBL, GMA Integrated News