ST. LOUIS, Mo.– Gibson Elementary School Nurse Toby Arman’s first encounter with seven-year-old Paola was heartbreaking. Born with spina bifida, Paola had never been to school and was confined to crawling. A pediatric wheelchair seemed impossible to obtain given the family’s income. “I reached out to everyone I could think of. No one was able to help,” said Arman. Then she connected with the nonprofit St. Louis Health Equipment Lending Program which provides free durable healthcare equipment. Within a week, Paola received an appropriate-sized wheelchair and was able to attend school.
“We were glad to help, but the plight of Paola and countless others exposed an awareness and accessibility need,” said Karen Lanter, executive director of St. Louis HELP.
“We have more than 144 different types of pediatric equipment sitting idle that could help innumerable families with children with disabilities. We need families to know it is available and we need convenient and accessible storage space.” Lanter says the equipment includes a variety of wheelchairs, strollers, gait trainers, bath chairs and bases, car seats and more.
Lanter is borrowing from a highly successful idea launched last year – charitable real estate partnerships. St. Louis HELP expanded service through partnerships with six organizations to create a network of donated distribution hubs to store and return equipment to more conveniently serve St. Louis city, St. Louis County, Jefferson County and St. Charles County. Now it is seeking one exclusively devoted to pediatric equipment.
“What we need is 8,000 to 10,000 square feet of ADA-compliant and carpeted storage space, centrally located, to store our pediatric equipment,” said Lanter. “We believe there must be some vacant and perhaps long dormant storage space that can be put to better use.” For more information, call St. Louis HELP at 314-897-4357 or connect with Karen Lanter at [email protected].
The value of getting children with disabilities the right pediatric equipment cannot be overstated. “Having the right equipment is crucial for development for children facing significant limitations in mobility,” said Christina Rejko, a physical therapist at Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital. “It allows children with disabilities to access their environment, promoting independence while improving social inclusion and their overall quality of life.”
Last year, St. Louis HELP far surpassed the number of people it served through its distribution hubs. It was able to serve a record 2,612 people, an increase of 18% over the previous year. The organization also served 140 children, an increase of 40% over the previous year, but Lanter believes even more could be served if it can find a charitable real estate partner for storage space.
“Our lending program is ideally suited to meet the need,” said Lanter. “Children outgrow pediatric wheelchairs. When that happens, the wheelchairs are returned to us and the children are given more appropriately sized wheelchairs. The wheelchairs returned are repaired and cleaned for reuse. They don’t wind up in landfills.” Last year, St. Louis HELP diverted 167 tons of durable health equipment from landfills.
Founded in 2008 by Laura Cannon, St. Louis Health Equipment Lending Program (St. Louis HELP) is a 501(C)(3) charity dedicated to securing and providing, free-of-charge, the health equipment necessary to help people in need. Learn more at www.stlhelp.org.