By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: March 8, 2014
Bernie Agg puts on his medical gloves and gives a good hard look to the wheel chair slouched on the ground.
Next to him is a tissue paper full of little bundles of coiled tresses he has plucked from the nooks and corners of the wheel chair.
In an hour or so, the wheel chair will be back on the shelves to be borrowed by the next patient.
The Red Cross funded Health Equipment Loan Program (HELP) operates out of a small nondescript building near the Hilltop House.
Managed solely by community volunteers, the medical equipment loan program lends medical equipment for a temporary use.
It’s a free service and three days a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., volunteers like Bernie Agg, Dawn Schmidt, Bert Ionson, and Nahid help out patients.
The program aims to alleviate the pressure that comes with injury or illness.
While a new wheel chair can cost close to $500, renting one isn’t cheap at $80 a week. If the illness is temporary, spending that money can be a wasteful burden.
With the medical equipment loan program, instead of buying expensive equipment, patients can borrow it for a few weeks or a few months at no cost.
There are wheelchairs, walker, bath seats and benches, commodes and toilet seats, crutches and canes and bed handles.
The program may operate out of a small room, but it gets patients all the way from Pemberton to Lions Bay.
Pat Harney has in the past used the service twice. A few years ago, he borrowed a shower seat for his father and a few days ago, a
wheelchair for his mother.
“It’s great not having to pay for this equipment,” he said.
Patients need a referral from their doctor or a registered health care professional to loan out equipment.
On average, 40 people access the medical equipment, but the number varies with knee or hip operations.
And seniors are not the only ones walking in to access the medical equipment.
“We have a room full of crutches for kids,” says Agg.
HELP has kept a low profile but depends on volunteers and donations to keep serving the community.
They accept financial donation but also used equipment and are looking for volunteers.
It’s deeply satisfying to volunteer for the program, says Dawn Schmidt.
“People truly appreciate this service,” she says.
Agg is 88 and has volunteered for eight years and will continue to do so.
“We are doing something nice here,” he says, smiling.
