ESSENTIAL EQUIPMENT
The rural Dickinson County parents of two boys who are developmentally delayed and a Salina man recovering from an accident are among the 9,700 clients of the Kansas Equipment Exchange since its founding in 2000.
The exchange, begun by director Sara Sack at KU’s Life Span Institute in Parsons, collects donations of wheelchairs, hospital beds, van lifts, and other medical equipment.The pieces are refurbished and have been distributed from regional centers in Parsons, Lawrence, Oakley, Salina, and Wichita to clients in every Kansas county.
The boys’ mother is thankful for a stairway chairlift for her growing children, because, she says,“We couldn’t have afforded it otherwise.” And the Salina man notes that power and manual wheelchairs and a hospital bed have permitted him to remain at home to recuperate.
Wheelchairs, walkers, and other used medical equipment are collected and refurbished at five sites around Kansas and distributed to clients in every county in the state. Technician John Tucker (center) works on donated equipment at the Lawrence site.
