STAMFORD, Connecticut—Wheel It Forward, a volunteer-run community library that lends out and accepts donations of durable medical equipment (DME), announced the launch of its newest initiative: the GotDME National Directory (GotDME.org). This resource aims to connect individuals in need with organizations across the country that offer free borrowing and donation options for essential durable medical equipment like wheelchairs, walkers, hospital beds, rollators, knee scooters, shower safety equipment and more.
As a startup organization dedicated to reimagining and transforming the nonprofit DME lending industry—improving accessibility and affordability of DME—Wheel It Forward recognized a pressing need for a national directory that would connect people with local lending organizations. That need became obvious when people from as far away as Arizona started contacting Wheel It Forward’s Connecticut-based library, asking to either borrow or donate equipment.
"This directory fills an important gap by providing easy access to existing lending organizations, most of which don’t have their own websites and are not easy to find through a Google search," said Elliot Sloyer, founder and CEO of Wheel It Forward. "Based on Wheel it Forward’s inquiry data, there are likely millions of people every year scrambling to borrow and donate durable medical equipment across the U.S."
The average piece of home medical equipment has a lifespan of more than five years; however, it is typically used for only four months. This results in a huge supply of lightly used DME being discarded into garages, basements or, worse, landfills. Simultaneously, out-of-pocket expenses for DME are significantly higher than those for prescription drugs, especially when considering high-deductible insurance plans. Such costs become increasingly unaffordable even for middle-class families struggling with an unexpected illness or medical need.
"Our goal is to raise awareness for these lending organizations and to ensure that everyone has access to this life-changing medical equipment that keeps people mobile and safe at home," said Sloyer. "As a result, we can meaningfully improve people’s quality of life, measurably save society and people a lot of money and keep tons of DME out of landfills. Borrowing and donating DME also means fewer resources need to be mined, manufactured, packaged and shipped."
GotDME's website is a tool to help people when they are at their most vulnerable physically and financially. Through collaboration with organizations nationwide and connecting them through the GotDME directory, people can now determine if local resources exist in their time of need.
GotDME's National Directory will also be collecting data about each lending organization related to how many people it serves, and how much and what types of equipment it lends out and accepts.
"The goal is to identify data points and trends in the DME lending space so that we can make this industry more impactful," the organization said. "We plan on sharing what we learn with others."
To learn more about the GotDME National Directory, visit GotDME.org.
