Lending Hands helps out with medical supplies

PORTAGE, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – A different kind of recycling is helping people with medical conditions who can't afford expensive equipment.

It's called Lending Hand, and in just a short time, it's grown from a small operation to one that helps hundreds of people.

“In the one sense you might say we're in the recycling business,” said John Hilliard, a volunteer for Lending Hand.

Inside the office in Portage, volunteers trade in home medical supplies, supplies like wheelchairs, walkers, canes, and commodes, what people cannot afford or don't need permanently.

“Primarily we deal with people with limited or no health insurance,” said Hilliard.

Hilliard modeled Lending Hands after a similar organization in Arizona. It lends out donated supplies for free for up to nine months.

“The demand continues to go up,” said Hilliard.

From less than 50 people helped in its first six months, Lending Hands now does that in a single day. The organization has helped 1,500 people so far in 2009 across nine West Michigan counties.

“With a good majority of them, it's the difference between putting food on the table or getting their prescriptions or paying for their mortgage,” said Hilliard.

Ladonna Edick of Vicksburg stopped by Lending Hands on Wednesday, she fell at work and suffered cardiac arrest.

“When I woke up the doctors told me I was their miracle patient,” said Edick. “Dead for 55 minutes they said.”

Two months later, Edick is just getting out of the hospital and needs some help at home.

“Because they loan it and then I can just bring it back, somebody else can use it,” said Edick.

Lending Hands is even considering expanding,f all it needs to do so is more space, about 4,000 square feet, which is more than twice the size of their current location.