Area-Wide Donors Contributed More than 1,000 Home Health Items During The St. Louis HELP Equipment Drive

St. Louis HELP, the not-for-profit Health Equipment Lending Program that freely loans home medical equipment to any person who needs it, collected a total of 1,031 home health equipment items from 246 donors during its equipment donation drive on Saturday, October 14.

“We collected 11.79 tons of used home medical equipment that we will clean and revitalize for free loans to any person or caregiver for as long as they need to use it,” said Executive Director Laura Cannon Singer, who founded the nonprofit organization in 2008. (http://www.stlhelp.org).

“From this drive we are diverting almost 12 tons from the solid waste stream by cleaning, reconditioning, recycling and loaning all of this donated equipment, as well as more than 120 tons throughout the year,” she said.

“We express our deepest gratitude for all donors and our amazing volunteers for making this event a success. We are now are busy cleaning and reconditioning the equipment at our warehouse in Olivette.

“We are extremely grateful for support from Saint Louis County that enabled our October 14 equipment drive, which was funded by a grant from the Saint Louis County Department of Public Health utilizing County landfill surcharge funds,” Cannon-Singer said.

“And we are extremely thankful for participation by Walgreen’s, which permitted our volunteers to collect equipment donations at 14 designated Walgreen’s parking lots in four metro area counties in metro St. Louis and southwestern Illinois.”

“We estimate that the cumulative value of the items we collected on October 14 to be $263, 110. We turn that used equipment into an asset for people by revitalizing it and loaning it to them unconditionally.”

Donated items included manual and power wheelchairs, electric hospital beds, shower chairs, canes, crutches, walkers, grab bars, elevated toilet seats, portable commodes, lift chairs, seating cushions, back supports, folding ramps and other devices, Singer said.

A news feature that aired on KPLR Channel 11 showcasing St. Louis HELP can be viewed via this link: http://kplr11.com/2017/10/14/local-organization-helps-those-in-need-of-medical-devices-and-supplies/.

St. Louis HELP is a non-profit 501©(3) organization that loans equipment to any person including those temporarily disabled by injury, illness or surgery; those awaiting insurance company approval; those whose own equipment is being repaired; visitors to St. Louis who can’t transport their own equipment; and terminally ill persons.

The organization operates a 7,000 square foot warehouse in Olivette where it cleans, revitalizes and loans home medical equipment and responds to increasing requests from people and families throughout metro St. Louis for free use of the revitalized health equipment that St. Louis HELP lends.

Call 314 567 4700 to inquire about free loans of available home health equipment. For more information, see the website http://www.stlhelp.org. Media contact Jeff Dunlap at 314 409 5203.

***