ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Wegmans is the latest in a line of stores and pharmacies to offer a potentially life-saving device for people who are blind or visually impaired. It’s called ScripTalk. It’s essentially a talking prescription label.

For Monica Johnson, organizing her prescription medication is a regular ritual. But she needs a bit of help. When she was 11, Johnson was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She developed diabetic retinopathy and by age 29, she was blind.

“I certainly didn't think you could happen to you when you were younger but it absolutely can,” said Johnson. “I went through denial and went through anger. I went through the depression stage. It was really hard.“

The help Johnson gets with her medication is a device called ScripTalk, an audible medication label technology that amounts to a talking prescription label. It helps Johnson make sure she takes the correct medications. She found out about it through her mail-order pharmacy.

“I said, well, tell me about that,” she said. “So they told me about it and I thought, ‘Well, sure.’”

The latest pharmacy to add ScripTalk is Wegmans, which is offering the service at five New York locations.

“The most important piece to this technology is that visually impaired customers may have trouble reading their labels, the side effects, the doctor's information, the prescription information in general,” said Michael Scozzaro, manager of compliance and regulatory relations for Wegmans Pharmacy. “And if that's the case, they may take the prescription with an over-the-counter product that may not be compatible.”

It’s a potentially dangerous proposition.

“We've had instances where people have taken the wrong medication, or they've taken it incorrectly and have had side effects,” said Scozzaro. “So to have this option available for them, I think it means the world to them and means the world to us to be able to provide it.”

Johnson says she mixed the wrong prescriptions just once.

“The only thing that was different about the pill for my cholesterol medication was the color, that I can't see,” she said. “So I had combined two different medications together and had no clue.”

Luckily, her sister caught the mistake. It’s one mistake which, thanks to technology, she won’t make again.

“It's very helpful,” said Johnson. “It's very helpful independence-wise. It makes you more independent.”