State program offers free, used medical equipment

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When Loreen Banks’ nearly 90-year-old aunt moved into Banks’ southern Prince George’s County home a year ago, it quickly became clear that the aunt, who suffers from dementia and has trouble walking,  needed some extra medical equipment

Wary of spending the time and money often needed to get such equipment, Banks turned to the state-run Durable Medical Equipment Re-Use program. One year later, both she and her aunt are delighted they did.

To date, the family has picked up – for free – a shower chair, a transfer bench to help the aunt get into the chair, a four-pronged cane for stability in walking, a manual wheelchair and a rollator (a walker with a seat on it).

“She loves that she is so mobile now,” Banks said of her aunt, Dolly Holley. “We’re all just so happy with this organization.

“We’re not a rich family – we don’t have $200 to buy a rollator,” she added. “Now, we can spend more on getting her supplies – her basic needs.”

The idea for the state’s Durable Medical Equipment Re-Use program began a few years ago when Maryland Secretary of Aging Rona Kramer was on a state-sponsored trip to Israel. While there, she learned of a state-sponsored program where elderly and/or disabled men and women could get used, refurbished and sanitized medical equipment for free.

She decided Maryland needed something similar, and while it took some time, Kramer’s department two years ago launched the state’s Durable Medical Equipment Re-Use program – which she said, remains the only state-organized program of its kind in the country.

The program has two components: People who have but no longer need their durable medical equipment – which can range from expensive electric wheelchairs to simple canes – donate their unneeded equipment to the state. The state, which will pick up the equipment for free, takes it back to a central warehouse and sanitizes it. The equipment is then stored in one of 14 satellite sites scattered throughout the state, where people who need it can take whatever they need.

Such equipment is also available through the medical system, Kramer noted, but insurance issues and paperwork requirements can make getting it a lengthy, costly process.

The goal of the program, according to Kramer, is to help ensure that all Marylanders, not just the aging, the wealthy or those with prime insurance, have the mobility and the equipment they need to “live life fully.”

The re-use program has had an unexpected benefit as well. According to state figures released last month, the program has collected more than 13,400 items weighing 418,008 pounds, items that could have ended up in state landfills.

“We recognize now that this program is just as important environmentally as it is in creating mobility,” Kramer said.

Over its first two years, the program has expanded, as more storage and pick-up sites have been added.

“We’re always looking to expand, to enlarge existing sites and add new ones,” said Ian Edwards, the program’s director.

Program organizers also have reached out to other agencies, mostly nonprofits, that help people with their medical equipment. Right now, for example, the state is working with Bridging Voice, a nonprofit organization that helps people with ALS and other conditions.

The re-use program also works with the traumatic brain injury program at the University of Maryland Medical System, helping doctors there locate equipment for their patients.

Kramer is also interested in the idea of situating large containers at landfills throughout the state, to make it easier for people to drop off their unneeded equipment. “Where we have them now, they fill up very quickly – with no advertising at all,” she said.

Like Loreen Banks with her aunt, Michael Riess turned to the re-use program to help an aging relative – in his case, his mother.

Regina Riess, 92, lives with her husband in the Baden area, in southern Prince George’s.  Michael Riess and his sisters, who live nearby, help their aging parents – taking them to medical appointments and the like.

When he realized his mother’s mobility issues “were getting worse by the month,” Riesss one day stopped at the re-use program’s satellite station in Cheltenham to check it out. By chance, program director Edwards, who is also a licensed physical therapist, was there.

Edwards met with Riess, grilled him on his mother’s needs, and since that first visit has given him a shower chair and a transport chair, a sort of modified wheelchair.

“Sometimes you have to jump through hoops” to get what you or a loved one needs,” Riess said. “But not with this program. This program was exactly what we needed to get that little bit of assistance.”

For more information on the state-run Durable Medical Equipment Re-Use program, those who need the equipment and those who have equipment to donate can call 240-230-8000 or visit dme.maryland.gov online.