WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:08.500 Ten o'clock at night in Amsterdam. Ten o'clock at night in Poland. The same hour, two countries. 00:09.540 --> 00:13.300 Magda rings her mum with the question she asks every few days. 00:14.220 --> 00:22.140 Mum, aren't you running low on the heart one? And her mum says she thinks she's still got some. 00:22.140 --> 00:45.040 And that, she thinks, is the whole story. Because Magda can't look in the drawer. She can't count the tablets in the strip. She can't check whether the heart medicine's running out. Between her and her mum's cabinet, there's a thousand kilometres, and one, I think. 00:45.040 --> 00:56.980 Hello, I'm Thomas Schuster. I built the Moyab-Tetchka app. And what Isa's just described, Magda's story from Amsterdam, is our subject today. 00:58.020 --> 01:05.960 What do you do when your parents have stayed back home, and you live abroad, and you actually want to know how they're getting on with their medicines? 01:05.960 --> 01:23.620 And I'll tell you, it got to me more than I expected. Because picture my mum, Irena, and my dad, Christoph, on their own back home. And me, suddenly in another country. I'd be ringing ten times a day. 01:24.380 --> 01:28.120 You would. And you'd still only have what they tell you down the phone. 01:28.120 --> 01:39.780 Exactly. So lay it out for me. What gets harder when the border's between you for good? Because it's not the same as looking after someone in the next town, surely? 01:40.640 --> 01:55.120 It's not the same. Three things change at once. First, you can't look in the drawer. You can't count the packs. You can't see the date on the box. You can't spot that an antibiotic's been sat open for six months. 01:55.120 --> 01:58.420 So you're left with the phone and photos. 01:59.300 --> 02:07.500 The phone and photos. And both are unreliable. Because both depend on somebody happening to remember. 02:08.340 --> 02:11.540 All right. That's one. And the second? 02:11.740 --> 02:18.100 The second is a trap that's typical of families split by a border. The same medicine has different brand names in different countries. 02:18.380 --> 02:24.660 Your mum says, I take the pink one for my blood pressure. You try to line that up with what you know from your own chemists. 02:24.660 --> 02:26.540 And the name leads nowhere. 02:27.280 --> 02:35.260 That's exactly what I'd be afraid of. Because I wouldn't know if mum's pink one is the same as what I'd buy round the corner. 02:36.200 --> 02:41.360 And the third? A different pharmacy system. A different doctor. A different time zone. 02:41.880 --> 02:48.220 The prescription's in one country's system. The doctor sees patients there. The pharmacy keeps that country's hours. 02:48.640 --> 02:51.140 And you're on a completely different rhythm of the day. 02:51.140 --> 02:56.520 Well, that sounds like something you can't get a handle on from another country. 02:57.020 --> 03:03.200 There's one thing you can get a handle on. And everything starts from it. A shared cabinet in the cloud. 03:03.980 --> 03:08.860 Instead of two half pictures. Yours from what you're told on the phone. Your mum's from memory. 03:09.180 --> 03:10.800 There's one list you both see. 03:11.540 --> 03:13.880 Meaning what exactly do I see? 03:13.880 --> 03:20.760 The names of the medicines. The number of packs. The expiry dates. And who each medicine's assigned to. 03:21.300 --> 03:25.680 Your mum adds a medicine at her end. You see it at yours once it syncs. 03:26.080 --> 03:28.560 No more, check what I sent you in that message. 03:29.360 --> 03:33.740 There's one last synced state, visible to everyone who's allowed in. 03:33.740 --> 03:40.460 So what mum saves in the app back home, I see at my end in Amsterdam once it syncs. 03:41.160 --> 03:48.540 Exactly that. And it eases that first problem. You don't have to rely only on what mum tells you on the phone or on the odd photo. 03:49.000 --> 03:51.520 You've got a saved list you both look at. 03:52.260 --> 03:57.280 Alright, but here's the question everyone would ask. Does it cost anything? 03:57.280 --> 04:05.780 And it's good you ask it straight out, because I'll answer straight out too. The free plan handles one cabinet, one member, up to 20 medicines. 04:06.520 --> 04:14.300 It's great for trying out the scamming and getting your own medicines in order. But for running a shared cabinet between the two of you, it won't be enough. 04:15.680 --> 04:16.960 So I pay for the sharing? 04:16.960 --> 04:28.720 Yes. Sharing starts with the standard plan, up to five people, and the pro plan goes up to 10, meant squarely for someone keeping an eye on the medicines of several people they love. 04:29.280 --> 04:37.560 You'll find the current prices in the app store. I'm saying it plainly, so nobody assumes that sharing a cabinet across a border works for free. 04:37.560 --> 04:47.480 I appreciate that it isn't tucked away in the small print. So let's go back to those different names, because that's the bit that nags at me most. 04:48.180 --> 04:52.920 Will the app translate the Polish name into what I'd buy at my local chemists? 04:53.480 --> 04:58.560 No. And here I've got to be very precise, because it's easy to promise too much. 04:58.560 --> 05:06.800 The app won't turn APAP into its equivalent in Germany or Ireland, and it won't tell you what the medicines called abroad. 05:07.440 --> 05:10.520 There's no such feature, and I'm not going to pretend there is. 05:11.140 --> 05:12.800 So how does it help then? 05:13.340 --> 05:17.620 In something surer than the name, the app shows you the active substance. 05:18.340 --> 05:24.320 And the active substance is, in practice, the common language when you're talking to a doctor or a pharmacist. 05:24.320 --> 05:31.000 Paracetamol is paracetamol, whether the box in Poland has one brand on it and the one in Ireland another. 05:31.820 --> 05:35.320 So instead of the pink one for blood pressure… 05:35.320 --> 05:39.920 You've got the specific active substance, and whatever's been saved from the box. 05:40.480 --> 05:46.020 And when your mum's doctor back home, or your pharmacist where you are, asks, what does she take? 05:46.260 --> 05:48.860 You're not giving them a brand name they might not know. 05:48.860 --> 05:51.200 You give them the active substance. 05:51.200 --> 05:55.420 That's information that crosses the border without any translating. 05:55.680 --> 05:58.180 And where does the app get that substance from? 05:58.680 --> 06:00.380 Am I typing it in by hand? 06:01.060 --> 06:01.760 Usually not. 06:02.360 --> 06:09.400 You take a photo of the box, and the scan reads the name, the active substance, and the expiry date, and they go onto the list. 06:10.780 --> 06:13.080 But there's one honest caveat here. 06:13.740 --> 06:17.700 The recognising and the matching are based on an official medicines register. 06:17.700 --> 06:26.280 So for a medicine bought in another country, the match against the register might not come off, and you'd have to check the details and fix them by hand. 06:26.940 --> 06:29.340 So a foreign box might not match? 06:30.020 --> 06:30.800 It might not. 06:31.400 --> 06:36.960 And then the surest thing is the active substance, copied straight off the box, by hand. 06:37.620 --> 06:41.120 It's one line, and it's the line that tells you the most. 06:41.120 --> 06:44.860 Right. A practical question from real life. 06:45.600 --> 06:48.420 I'm sat on the metro in Amsterdam. No signal. 06:49.140 --> 06:52.560 I open the app, and what? It's blank? 06:53.120 --> 06:54.220 No, not blank. 06:54.900 --> 06:58.300 You've got the last synced list to hand, even with no signal. 06:58.860 --> 07:01.060 You'll see what was there at the last connection. 07:01.620 --> 07:05.120 But if mum added something this morning and I had no signal… 07:05.120 --> 07:09.360 Then to see that new thing, the phone has to connect just once. 07:09.920 --> 07:13.300 With no connection, you're seeing yesterday's picture, not today's. 07:13.920 --> 07:17.020 I'm not going to pretend the list updates out of thin air. 07:17.600 --> 07:19.580 OK, that does sound honest. 07:20.340 --> 07:23.440 Most apps would promise you you've always got everything. 07:23.860 --> 07:27.280 And always everything is simply not true. 07:27.820 --> 07:29.460 I'd rather tell you how it is. 07:29.460 --> 07:36.540 Then tell me about the dates, because that's probably the hardest thing at a distance – expiry dates. 07:37.340 --> 07:37.820 The hardest. 07:38.500 --> 07:41.880 Because in the same city, one glance in the cupboard sorts it. 07:42.740 --> 07:45.820 On the list, each medicine has an expiry status colour. 07:46.520 --> 07:51.300 You can see straight off what's fine, what's near its date, and what's past it. 07:51.860 --> 07:54.080 You open the cabinet from another country, 07:54.560 --> 07:58.540 and you can see straight away whether your mum's heart medicine is showing red. 07:58.540 --> 08:03.280 So I don't have to ask her, please check the dates on all the boxes? 08:03.680 --> 08:04.140 You don't. 08:04.600 --> 08:08.200 And that's a chore, especially for an older person with poorer eyesight. 08:08.860 --> 08:09.540 Instead, you say… 08:10.200 --> 08:12.580 Mum, these drops have got two weeks left on them. 08:12.920 --> 08:14.160 I'll put them on the shopping list. 08:14.700 --> 08:17.720 And this shopping list, does it write itself? 08:18.160 --> 08:21.600 You set a threshold on a medicine, the smallest number of packs. 08:22.260 --> 08:24.720 When the recorded stock drops below that minimum, 08:25.180 --> 08:27.140 the medicine goes onto the restock list. 08:27.140 --> 08:28.400 To restock. 08:28.540 --> 08:33.000 You know a parent's running low on a regular medicine well before the last pack, 08:33.340 --> 08:37.000 and not at the last minute on a Sunday evening with the chemists shut. 08:37.600 --> 08:39.260 And this list is shared too. 08:39.940 --> 08:40.320 Shared. 08:40.700 --> 08:43.260 So there's no, I thought you were going to buy it. 08:43.800 --> 08:46.460 Everyone who's allowed in sees the same gaps. 08:47.160 --> 08:50.680 So tell me, finally, how you even start. 08:51.080 --> 08:53.920 Because this sounds like something you'd have to set up together. 08:53.920 --> 08:56.380 And this is the hardest moment. 08:56.380 --> 08:57.420 The start. 08:58.120 --> 09:00.240 After that, it's just glancing at a list. 09:01.380 --> 09:05.400 First, set up one shared cabinet and invite each other in. 09:05.400 --> 09:09.120 The parent can run it and you join, or the other way round. 09:09.680 --> 09:13.360 The point is that from the off, there's one list, not two. 09:13.860 --> 09:18.580 Second, add the regular medicines, most easily by photographing them. 09:18.580 --> 09:25.600 For a medicine bought abroad, fix the details by hand after the photo, copying across the active substance. 09:26.800 --> 09:30.080 Third, set thresholds on the ones taken every day. 09:30.580 --> 09:34.720 And have a look through the ones colour marked as near expiry or past it, 09:34.980 --> 09:37.120 to clear out what's already out of date. 09:37.820 --> 09:38.800 And the last step? 09:38.800 --> 09:41.380 Agree who's responsible for what. 09:41.980 --> 09:43.100 Who buys back home? 09:43.480 --> 09:45.200 Who keeps an eye on a list from abroad? 09:45.780 --> 09:47.400 Who talks to the parent's doctor? 09:48.080 --> 09:49.840 The app gives you a shared picture. 09:50.460 --> 09:52.440 Who does what is down to you. 09:53.120 --> 09:55.260 A few steps, one afternoon. 09:55.480 --> 09:56.160 One afternoon. 09:57.340 --> 09:58.240 And one more thing. 09:58.960 --> 10:02.440 When it's the parent going to their own doctor, and you're not there with them, 10:02.920 --> 10:06.620 they can show the list of medicines without dictating a thing from memory. 10:06.620 --> 10:13.980 The other person opens a link or scans a code and sees the shared list, with no logging in. 10:14.980 --> 10:18.420 But let's be clear about what the app doesn't do. 10:19.100 --> 10:23.220 Because at a distance, it's tempting to hand it more than it can carry. 10:24.320 --> 10:27.940 It is tempting, and that's exactly why I say it plainly. 10:28.460 --> 10:31.100 It doesn't translate names between countries. 10:31.660 --> 10:34.720 It doesn't replace the parent's doctor or pharmacist. 10:34.720 --> 10:39.680 Decisions about treatment, what to take, in what amount, what to stop, 10:40.240 --> 10:42.560 belong to the specialist who knows your parent. 10:43.760 --> 10:48.800 The app is a layer of memory and order, not a system for making medical decisions. 10:49.820 --> 10:53.480 The greater the distance, the easier it is to forget that. 10:54.200 --> 10:55.800 The easier it is. 10:56.520 --> 10:58.660 The app puts the facts in order. 10:59.440 --> 11:03.000 Assessment and treatment, that's for a doctor or a pharmacist. 11:03.000 --> 11:06.660 So let's come back to Magda at the end. 11:07.960 --> 11:08.320 Let's. 11:09.000 --> 11:12.620 Nothing we've said will let Magda look into the drawer back home from Amsterdam. 11:13.460 --> 11:19.900 But a shared list, the colour of the dates, and the active substance instead of an unfamiliar brand, 11:20.760 --> 11:21.320 turn her, 11:21.320 --> 11:23.980 I think mum's still got some, into, 11:23.980 --> 11:26.680 I can see on the list how much is left. 11:27.720 --> 11:34.760 And that's the whole difference between worrying at a distance and calm, practical support. 11:34.760 --> 11:39.900 If you'd like to give it a go, that's the Moya Pteczka app. 11:40.600 --> 11:44.880 The app is free, and after that first sync, it works offline too. 11:45.760 --> 11:47.880 You'll find the link in the episode description. 11:49.000 --> 11:51.720 The simplest way to start is with the free plan. 11:52.520 --> 11:54.280 Put a few of your own medicines in order, 11:54.280 --> 11:56.860 and see whether a system like this suits you. 11:57.840 --> 11:59.440 And if you enjoyed the episode, 12:00.280 --> 12:03.260 share it with someone who's minding parents from another country. 12:03.560 --> 12:04.800 One more thing before we go. 12:05.340 --> 12:08.780 This podcast is made with the help of artificial intelligence. 12:09.340 --> 12:10.960 I wrote the dialogue myself, 12:11.340 --> 12:13.800 but the voices you're hearing aren't ours. 12:14.380 --> 12:16.940 They're AI-generated, synthetic voices. 12:17.920 --> 12:19.820 We're telling you this straight out, 12:19.820 --> 12:24.160 because we think it should be the standard for any podcast made this way. 12:25.180 --> 12:28.960 Full details are in the show notes and in every episode description. 12:30.100 --> 12:31.260 Until next time. 12:32.300 --> 12:33.560 Until next time.