July, 2004 

FREE help coming to disabled locally

By DEBBIE HALL
Bulletin Staff Writer

A new agency created through a grant from The Harvest Foundation is looking to make life easier for disabled residents with limited resources.

FREE, an acronym for the Foundation for Rehabilitation Equipment & Endowment, is a Roanoke-based non-profit corporation opening its first satellite office in Martinsville. Through the agency, disabled individuals with limited income may qualify for specialized medical equipment that they otherwise could not afford.

Those who have been helped by the service say its been a godsend.

"I have nothing but praise for FREE," said Joanne Davidson of Bassett. She suffers from a myriad of health problems, including arthritis, fibromyalgia, narcolepsy, and it's companion disease, cataplexy, where a person feels suddenly weak and can collapse during moments of strong emotions.

The combined illnesses made it painful and dangerous for Davidson to leave her home, because often "your body just gives way and you fall down," she said.

Because of the risks, Davidson's doctor prescribed a walker with a seat, but encountered problems when Medicare refused to pay for a walker with a seat.

"They said it was a luxury, but like my doctor said, it is not a luxury," Davidson said.

For Davidson, whose husband Buddy died in May and is living on her disability checks, there were no other options.

"A lot of people here stand in the middle of the gap. They either make a penny too much or a penny too little (to qualify for help). Those people are stranded and that's just where we fell," Davidson said.

After being rejected by many other agencies, a social worker at the Martinsville-Henry County Social Services Department gave Davidson a contact name for FREE. The agency bought a walker with a seat for Davidson and "while they were at it, got me a reclining lift chair," she said.

The walker, Davidson added, had to be specially made and shipped from California and "I didn't have to pay one red cent."

The FREE program was started in Roanoke in 1999 by Dr. Bruce Stelmack, who wanted to help patients who encountered difficulty following office visits, according to according to Robin Ramsey, program administrator.

"He wanted to do something to help" and started the program to get medical equipment, such as canes, power wheelchairs, orthopedic braces, prosthetic limbs, ramps, to those in need, she said.

Last year, the Roanoke office aided 155 people and "this year, our goal is to serve 260 and we are on target," Ramsey said.

So far this year, 121 people were aided through the Roanoke office and more than 200 pieces of medical equipment purchased, she added.

The services are available to any adult with a doctor's prescription who meets certain financial and functional needs assessments.

Ramsey does not know when the Martinsville office will be up and running, because a part-time coordinator has not been hired. However, it will be housed in the same office as Virginia Prosthetics, Inc., on 315 Hospital Drive.

In the meantime, local residents can apply for aid through the Roanoke office.

The local office was possible through a $158,000 grant over three years from the Harvest Foundation.

It also is funded partially by the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation, the state Department of Rehabilitation Services and individuals.

"FREE can only exist through the generosity of caring individuals and organization," according to a program brochure. Contributions are tax-deductible.

The agency also collects donations of "gently used" medical equipment, Ramsey said.

Jeannie Tatum, who works with the Home Health Care Association, said FREE is "a great success story for people who slip through the cracks of Medicare. Martinsville needs some happy stories now and again and this is a good one."

One of Tatum's clients is Lillie Brown of Woolwine, who suffers from symptoms associated with a bone deterioration disease. Medicare paid for a wheelchair for her but refused to pay for a walker with wheels unless she returned the wheelchair.

However, Brown said she needs the wheelchair for long-distance outings. She added that she needed something to use around the house but could not use the wheelchair because her bathroom, kitchen and porch are not wheelchair-accessible.

With help from FREE, Brown had a new walker in about a week.

"They have really been great," she said.