Lynchburg Chapter

FREE Foundation of Lynchburg
Tate Springs Medical Center
1900 Tate Springs Rd., Suite 21
Lynchburg, VA 24501

(434) 846-3733 Phone
(434) 846-3773 Fax

edythe@free-foundation.org

Jeff Pullen (President)
Lawrence Tweedy (Inventory Control Clerk)
Edythe Trent

Articles:

FREE Foundation for Rehabilitation Equipment & Endowment
March 15 2007
Exciting news, FREE (Foundation for Rehabilitation Equipment & Endowment) has come to Central VA, to provide self-sufficiency and mobility to disabled individuals, seeking durable medical equipment, with no costly fees. FREE's name stands true to itself, by providing wheelchairs, canes, walkers, lift chairs, and other rehabilitative devices that will help enhance independence and quality of life, FREE welcomes those with minimal or no insurance, all that is required is to fill out a simple application accompanied by a doctor's  perscription to begin the process.

FREE, Goodwill Team UP
Donations for FREE can be made at Goodwill
by Cynthia T. Pegram
    Lynchburg FREE has teamed with Goodwill Industries of the Valleys so donators of durable medical equipment can drop off items at any attended Goodwill Donation Center in Central Virginia.
     The items will be transferred to the Foundation for Rehabilitation Equipment and Endowment (FREE).
     "I'm really enthusiastic about it," said Clarence Wellls, president of the Lynchburg FREE chapter. "It will give people options, rather than having to make trips to us, they can drop it off and (Goodwill) will bring it to us, and it will all stay in Lynchburg."
     FREE, a small nonprofit agency that recently opened at 2511 Memorial Ave., provides free used mobility aids such as wheelchairs, shower seats, canes, hospital-style beds, and lift chairs to people who can't afford them, but have a doctor's perscription.
     Kelly Sandridge, spokeswoman for Goodwill Industries of the Valleys, said Goodwill has had a similar arrangement with the FREE of Roanoke since 2006.
    With Goodwill's many locations in Lynchburg - as well as in Madison Heights, Bedford and Forest - people can check online to find the most convenient location, said Sandridge.
     Donors who want a tax deduction should ask for a donation receipt, she said, and specify FREE. FREE does not estimate the value of the items, Sandridge said.  "We are not allowed to do that by law. It is the responsibility of the donor."  FREE cleans, sanitizes and readies the used items for another person. "It is a great partnership," said Sandridge.
     FREE of Roanoke helped found the Lynchburg chapter after getting calls from people needing equipment, Central Health Foundation provided a $25,000 grant and the Roanoke FREE continues to act as fiscal agent.
     For large-sized or high-dollar items like beds or scooters, it's likely that the wait will be at least two weeks, said Wells. In addition to the prescription, those obtaining the free medical aids must also meet financial criteria.

FREE OPENS ITS DOORS (Dec 4th 2006)
by Cynthia Pegram
      Empty wheelchairs sit in a room at 2511 Memorial Ave in Lynchburg. Some are sized for children, some for adults. Another room has a row of aluminum walkers, crutches, shower seats, a a stack of bedside potty chairs and lifting equipment.
     FREE of Lynchburg, the Foundation for REhavilitation Equipment and Endowment is now open. At FREE, used durable medical goods are recycled at no charge to people who need them, but cannot afford the price of independence - even it its only the cost of a four-prong cane.
     "We don't sell anything," said Jeff Pullen, a Lynch burg specialist in prosthetics and vice presitdent of FREE. The target group is the people who have the doctor's perscription for a medical device but can't afford it."
     The used devices are cleaned, sanitized and made ready for the next person. And, because the organization is tax-exempt, the gift is tax-deductable.
     "We won't turn down anything," said Clarence Wells, FREEpresident. "If it's not used here, it can be used in another country."
     The new nonprofit organization in Lynchburg is a spin-off chapter of FREE of Roanoke, which was founded in 1998 by a rehabilitation physician concerned about patiens who werent doing well, said Robin Ramsey, executive director of Roanoke FREE.
     "The reason they weren't doing well is they couldn't get the devices they needed," she said. "They stayed in bed because they had no wheelchair or stayed sitting all day because they had no walker."
     "We approched the Central Health Foudation," Ramsey said, "and they realized this was a need in the community."
     Kathryn Pumphrey, Foundation executive vice prescident, said the idea met the Foundation's criteria for improving access to care.
     The foundation awarded a $25000 grant for startup for a Lynchburg FREE and provided organizational meeting space at Virginia Baptist Hospital.
    Durable medical equipment can help people become more independent and help them stay at home longer she said. That means a decrease in hospital admissions "plus is helps the caregivers."
     It also means that others who have purchased but don't use a lift chair, mobilized wheelchair, or cane or any medical device can turn it into a way to help people instead of gathering dust.
     Dr. James Dunsta , director of medical rehabilitation services for Central Health, helped Lynchburg FREE get underway. "I love the concept of recyling equipment," Dunstan said. As an orthopedic surgeon, he sees many people gt better and nol longer need their assistive devices. Churches have programs that recycle, as do other groups, Dunstan said. "This is a way to consoliate all the smaller initiatives."
     FREE is such a good idea that Roanoke has nurtured other chapters, such as one in Martinsville, and hopes soon to see a statewide effort launched to develope local equipment recycling said Ramsey.
     Ronaoke's FREE has a partnership with Goodwill so that people can drop off medical equiment at any of those sites.
     A neighbor agency, Lynchburg Area Center for Independent Living, gave FREE its first major donation of used medical equipment.
     FREE has a closet at Virginia Baptist Hospital. Donations and requests are coming in. And they're putting together a fledgling network of skilled volunteers who can help turn a donated wheelchair into the item perscribed by the doctor - right down to height and footrest requirements.
     If they can't find a donated item, said Clarence Wells, they hope someday to be able to buy one rather than leave the need unmet. "We'll try to partner with someone else if it is a high-dollar item."
     Celestine Walker, a former member of the LACLL Board and current member of the Virginia Assistive Technology Council, is also working wth FREE.
     Sometimes people can't get the qquipment they need, even when they have an insurer like Medicare or Medicaid, said Walker, who used a wheelchair.
     In sme cases, she said, "Medicare or Medicaid will buy you one piece.... but you may need two or three for a lifetime and you might need two or three other things to make you as independent as you would like.
      Some of the donated items are costly, like lift chairs, power chairs and scooters.
     "Those are tremendous for someone who needs it and it is completely out of their reach, " Ramsey said. "To give someone a power chair or scooter changes their life, from lying in bed all the time to getting safely to the doctor, to the grocery store to every-day - ordinary things we don't think about."
     And serendipity is alive and well in FREE. Last year, said Ramsey, Roanoke recieved a donation of a reclining, full-body shower chair used in a roll-in shower and which would support from head to toe. But it had been built for a specifi patiend and was very long and very narrow.
     "Two or tree weeks later, someone called in needing a roll-in shower chair," she said, "but hadn't been able to find one because the person was 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighed 190 pounds." It fit exactly.