Wheelchairs and medical supplies are a sore subject for me. Every time I see equipment that our clients no longer need and want to donate, I think of all the people who could use it – all the people who can’t afford to buy expensive medical equipment, or who can’t get their insurance company to cover the cost.
It should be easy to match used equipment with people who need it, but each time we set out to donate medical supplies of any kind – hospital beds, wheelchairs, walkers, sealed boxes of incontinence supplies, or any other supplies – we find ourselves spending a lot of time and effort doing so.
As with some other donations, the cost of transporting medical equipment to the people who need it is prohibitive. Most of the organizations collecting medical supplies cannot afford to offer transport services. Usually, our clients have to pay for transportation.
Charitable organizations are aware of all the hazards of passing used medical supplies from one person to another. Electric wheelchairs pose a particularly challenging problem. A non-profit providing wheelchairs to those in need cannot risk passing along faulty equipment. Imagine the issues that could arise if someone were given an electric wheelchair and it malfunctioned. Manual wheelchairs are easier to donate because they can usually be folded up and fit into the trunk of a car. And the risk of them not working is not nearly as high.
The key to know about donating medical equipment or supplies is that it can usually be done, but it takes time and effort.
Sometimes when a client has a wheelchair or hospital bed, it turns out to be rented and needs to be returned. This can be a challenge, as we have found rental supply companies often do not have good records of their rentals and they are often short-staffed. It can be difficult to figure out how to return things. If equipment is rented, there will usually be a label with a phone number.
For smaller supplies, such as bandages, incontinence supplies, and other things that can be shipped without much trouble, the AFYA Foundation is a great resource. Based in Westchester, New York, AFYA mobilizes supplies to be delivered to places hit by natural disasters, such as hurricanes or floods. During the COVID outbreak, AFYA sent medical supplies to hospitals in hard hit areas. See afyafoundation.net for more information. Please note that they used to pick things up in New York City but now it is difficult to arrange a pickup with them, so you may have to pay to have things sent to them.
There are some other organizations we call to donate medical supplies, but they are not consistently reliable, I’m afraid. Sadly, it always takes a lot of effort to donate these supplies. It’s obviously wonderful when you get these supplies to the people who need them, but definitely know that doing so may take a lot of time and patience.
