Almost every household we visit has something in a garage: a wheelchair, a walker, a commode, a scooter that has not moved in three years.
Somebody needs it, and the routes to get it to them are not obvious.
Equipment reuse and loan closets
The first call. Many communities run schemes that take donated wheelchairs, rollators, commodes and bath seats, clean them, and loan them free or for very little.
An Area Agency on Aging, an independent living center or a faith community will know where the nearest one is. This is also where to look if you need something short term.
What they will and will not take
Usually welcome: manual wheelchairs, rollators, walkers, canes, transport chairs, shower seats, transfer benches, raised toilet seats, bed rails, crutches.
Sometimes: power chairs and scooters, depending on battery condition and whether they can service them.
Rarely: anything with worn webbing, cracked frames or missing safety parts, and anything custom-fitted to one person.
What should be scrapped rather than passed on
Be honest about this. Slings with frayed webbing or damaged stitching. Anything load-bearing with a cracked frame. A rollator whose brakes no longer lock firmly.
Passing on equipment that is no longer safe moves the risk to somebody else. Our transfer aids guide covers what wear looks like on the items that matter.
Custom seating
A complex rehab chair was measured and configured for one person. The chassis may be reusable and the seating almost certainly is not.
An ATP or a reuse program with clinical involvement can tell you which parts have a life ahead of them.
Selling it
Realistic for scooters and power chairs in good condition, less so for anything else. Be straight about age, battery condition and hours.
One warning worth repeating: a used stairlift rail was cut or built for a specific staircase. A straight rail can be shortened and not lengthened; a curved rail fits one house only. Our guide to buying used explains why that listing is usually not the bargain it looks like.
Stairlifts and installed equipment
Do not let a general handyman take a stairlift out. Where a state regulates this equipment, that regulation covers work on it rather than just installation of it.
If the unit is a supported platform in good condition, it may be worth something to a company that reconditions. Our removal guide covers the rest.
Before you give it all away
Wait a little if the situation is recent. Needs change in both directions after a recovery, and people occasionally give away equipment they need again three months later.
If you need something in the meantime, it ships free from our online shop.
Clean it first
An unglamorous line that decides whether a reuse program can take something. Wipe down frames, wash removable fabric, and be honest about anything that cannot be cleaned properly.
Commodes, shower chairs and slings have a higher bar than a walking frame does, for obvious reasons.
Batteries
Power chair and scooter batteries are consumables and they are also the reason a donation may be declined. Say plainly how old they are and whether they hold a charge.
Battery disposal has its own rules and they are local. A retailer or a municipal recycling point will take them; the household waste stream will not.
What it is worth to you
Very little in money and a great deal to somebody else. Equipment sitting in a garage helps nobody, and the household that needs it next is usually in the same situation yours was in a year ago.
If you need something in the meantime, smaller items ship free from our online shop.
Tax and donations
A donation to a qualifying non-profit may be deductible. Get a receipt describing what was donated and keep it, and ask a tax professional rather than assuming.
Our funding guide covers the routes worth knowing on the way in as well as the way out.
Where to ask first
Area Agency on Aging, a local independent living center, a hospice, a church, or a veterans organization. One of those will either take it or know who does.
Hospice organizations in particular frequently run equipment loans and are used to handling this conversation gently, which matters when the reason for the donation is a difficult one.
Take photographs before it goes
Particularly for anything that was expensive or funded. Some programs want evidence of what happened to equipment they paid for, and a photograph with a date settles it.
It also helps if you later need the same model and want to remember exactly what you had.
Keep one thing back
A walking frame, a shower stool, something small. Needs change in both directions, and households that clear everything out occasionally find themselves buying the same item again within the year.
Keep the cheapest useful item and pass on the rest.
Before you give anything away
Check whether it was funded rather than bought. Equipment supplied through Medicaid, the VA, an insurer or a charity frequently remains theirs, and passing it on is not yours to do.
One phone call settles it. Programs are usually pleased to arrange collection because the equipment goes back into service.
Cleaning, in practical terms
Frames wiped with a household disinfectant. Fabric removed and washed where it comes off, replaced where it does not. Wheels cleared of hair and grit. Anything that has been in contact with skin for a long period, particularly cushions and slings, assessed honestly rather than optimistically.
A reuse program will decline something that cannot be cleaned properly, and they are right to.
Sorting what you have
Three piles. Pass on: sound, clean, standard equipment with life left. Recycle: metal frames that are structurally done, and batteries, which have their own disposal route. Bin: worn slings, cracked plastics, anything load-bearing that has failed.
Be honest about the third pile. Somebody else’s fall is not worth the reluctance to throw something away.
Where the larger items go
Scooters and power chairs are the ones worth a phone call rather than a listing. Reuse programs, veterans organizations and independent living centers all take them and some will collect.
Be clear about battery age. It is the first thing they will ask and it decides whether the item is usable or a parts donor.
Keeping the paperwork
Manuals, warranty documents and serial numbers should go with the equipment. A rollator does not need them; a power chair does, because the next owner cannot get it serviced without them.
Our funding guide covers the routes worth knowing on the way in, including the loan closets that are frequently where this ends up.