It’s a tradition of service to the community that not only benefits residents but can help save them money too. Since 1940, the Windham Medical Loan Closet has made durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs, mobility scooters and rollators more available to those who are in need.
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| Located inside the East Windham Fire Station at 47 Falmouth Road, Windham's Medical Loan Closet makes available, at no cost to town residents, durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs, mobility scooters and more for anyone in need in the community. FILE PHOTO |
Medical equipment is gathered through donations from people who have extra or unused equipment. People donate things like briefs and pull-ups, bed rails or sometimes money.
The loan closet does not take anything battery powered or electric due to the cost of maintenance and disposal if no longer functioning. Any old or broken equipment the town recycles for aluminum or steel.
The loan closet allows borrowers to hold onto items for up to three months. Items cannot be purchased from the loan closet and should be returned at the end of three months to give others in need the chance to borrow them as well.
Recent donations have allowed the Medical Loan Closet to obtain better equipment over this past year, and volunteers are constantly working to maintain the equipment for many clients.
Volunteers staff the Medical Loan Closet to assist in ensuring that all equipment is safe and clean when needed by members of the public.
The Town of Windham budgets a small amount every year to the Medical Loan Closet through a $600 annual grant, however monetary donations are also accepted.
Two meetings for volunteers a year are held to set up a rotating schedule for the next six months. On average, volunteers service about 25 calls each week.
The Medical Loan Closet is always looking for new volunteers and never turns anyone away.
The Medical Loan Closet is open Mondays through Fridays. Checking out for donations of equipment is by appointment only. To set an appointment, call and leave a message on the closet’s automated voice message and a volunteer will return the call promptly. The phone is monitored daily. The closet facility is for pick-up only. Volunteers do not deliver any equipment.
The Windham Medical Loan Closet began as the Windham Health Council in the 1940s. The facility worked with schools and children, weighing, and measuring them. In the 1950s it organized a Well Baby Clinic that operated until about late 1960s. It was then that council volunteers worked to make fluoride treatment available to all Windham children. Following this, the Windham Health Council recruited the town’s first dentist in the 1970s.
In the beginning, Frederick Alken, Windham’s Superintendent of Schools at the time, and Beverly Allen, a Windham school nurse, recognized the need to loan medical equipment to those recovering from an injury or struggling with a medical condition that couldn’t afford the necessary items immediately. Soon, town doctors Sidney Branson and Robert Burns joined, as did other volunteers.
Since its inception, the Windham Health Council has transformed into the Windham Medical Loan Closet and has served in getting medical equipment to those in-need. However, none of it could be made possible without the commitment and kindness of volunteers.
To obtain medical equipment, to donate items or to sign up as a volunteer, call 207-894-5999 and leave a message saying what you are calling for and a volunteer will return your call. <
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