Medical gear loan group fills up new digs with 10,000 pieces of equipment
A group that loans expensive medical gear is finding more people than ever need help to keep living at home and stay mobile and dignified.
Despite moving to a new location this fall due to demand, the Lending Cupboard in Red Deer, Alta., is still very busy with requests for free loans of crutches, walkers, wheelchairs, bath chairs, hydraulic bath lifts and other equipment to patients in central Alberta.
The items are necessary for people dealing with injury and illness at home — including post-surgery recovery — as paying out of pocket can cost a family thousands.
'Filling up quickly'
The non-profit has been growing since starting in 2006, so it moved a few months ago to a new, larger facility on 50th Avenue in Red Deer.
"They're filling up quickly and they're busy, and we don't expect that to slow down at all," executive director Dawna Morey told the Calgary Eyeopener on Tuesday. "So we're hoping that this facility will serve us for the next coming years anyway and we'll look at how we handle this going from there."
The Lending Cupboard's equipment is free to borrow and can be checked out for as long as needed. There's just a one-time, $10 fee to register the borrower in the group's database, which is used to track inventory and equipment maintenance.
Patients also need to provide a medical requisition for more specialized equipment, like a Hoyer Lift, which is used to transfer people from their beds to wheelchairs and requires instruction to operate safely.
Morey said she knows personally how needed medical equipment can affect a family. Her own relative, who lived in Ontario, paid more than $5,000 for medical equipment.
"Eventually, you know, the loved one passed away and she had the equipment, and what do we do with it?" she said. "So Lending Cupboard really talks about being able to lend, to re-purpose, and when it doesn't have a life anymore, then we properly recycle it, as well."
Mobility and dignity
Re-purposing old equipment and taking donations of new and used equipment has helped the group accumulate roughly 10,000 pieces.
That's far more than when the group started, through the efforts of one woman, Jacqui Joys. Her husband was terminally ill with cancer and she wanted equipment to keep him home with her as long as possible. Since there was no such lending service in her area, Joys started her own out of her garage.
"Really what we're talking about is not just that piece of equipment for that one individual but it's support that we're giving to the whole family as they're dealing with whatever their situation is," Morey said. "So we're talking about enhancing the quality of life and maintaining the individual's mobility, and their dignity."
In 2017, roughly 1,300 pieces were loaned and returned each month, serving 9,700 people.
With files from Angela Knight and the Calgary Eyeopener.
