February 15, 2024
If you follow REquipment on Facebook, you know that as of 2/12/2024, we have closed for durable medical equipment (DME) donations. Due to the overwhelming generosity of this community, we cannot take any more durable medical equipment until we free up storage space. Assistive technology (AT), however, is welcome and appreciated.This is both great and difficult news. Great, because we have plenty of DME to give away, and we continue to receive calls about equipment donations. Great because it means we are well known and relied on; we get calls from individuals, health organizations, and recently, a durable medical equipment supplier that is closing up shop and donating EVERYTHING to us. This will mean the opportunity to provide new DME at zero cost to people who can’t otherwise get what they need. The downside is that until further notice, we have to tell people we can’t take their DME. And taking donations is an essential part of our service.
This week, we spoke to a woman grieving the death of her child. She has eight valuable pieces of equipment she is donating, pediatric equipment she cannot bear to see go into the landfill, but she also needs them out of her house. “It doesn’t get easier with time,” she said.
Luckily, her donation was already slated for pickup. She’d made it through before we’d put a pause on the service. She nearly broke down with relief when she learned this.
“We will find this equipment a second life with someone who really needs it,” we told her.Now, for a few weeks, we will have to say… not yet.Because that’s how it is with REquipment. We don’t say “No” very often. We say, “Keep checking back.” Eventually, the equipment shows up that someone needs (if it’s part of our accepted device list). Eventually, we will have space for donations again because we see tremendous turnover.
The numbers tell the story. In FY23, 1,294 devices were donated, and we gave away 1,590. All told, REquipment has reassigned more than $16.6 million worth of durable medical equipment since 2014.In the meantime, if you have AT to donate, we’re taking it. And it you have DME, you can wait for us to reopen sometime this spring or visit our reuse resources list. All of the smaller reuse programs in Massachusetts are listed. As always, thank you for paying it forward.