God’ll get you for that

Is nothing sacred or has criminal enterprise moved into the assistive technology market? 

I have said before there is gold in mining the previously owned durable medical equipment market, key word “owned”. 

Participating in, dealing in, or buying stolen mobility assistance technology is illegal, and unconscionable. … “God’ll get you for that!”, Beatrice Arthur as Maude. 

Looks like God is going to be busy based on recent news stories from USA and UK:

An 86-year-old man ... got off his blue four-wheeled handicap scooter …  when the man returned, the scooter had been stolen. Handicap scooter stolen from man, 86, at Carlisle Fairgrounds 

Thieves stole the mobility scooter of a D-Day veteran on his diamond wedding anniversary. Garndiffaith D-Day veteran’s mobility scooter stolen

A stolen scooter belonging to a 64-year-old man with multiple sclerosis was found Wednesday morning, police Stolen Mobility Scooter Found By Police

"This is a heartless and despicable theft and has left the victim without the scooter which he relies on to go about his daily business." Mobility scooter stolen, Hebburn 

Callous thieves have left a frail pensioner housebound after stealing her mobility scooter and wrecking it. Mobility scooter theft leaves Mary housebound 

Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer

web site: http://caregivinglyyours.com/ 

videos: http://www.youtube.com/daddyleer

mining for home medical equipment

Food, water, clothing, shelter, and home medical equipment are the necessities of life for caregiving.

Recovery, progression, and death endlessly flood the market with previously owned durable medical equipment.

Sellers are motivated more to get rid of something than profit from it. Downsides could include absence of warranties and such, and medical insurance, if applicable, may not cover equipment from ‘non-authorized’ vendors.

Yet, there ARE deals available. I myself witnessed at a local auction an Invacare 9000 folding wheelchair in mint condition (guestimate value $750+) go for a high bid of $50.

Good shopping skills are required (especially on the Internet) as things may not always be what they seem, for example:

Admiring a Hoyer Power Lift with Power Base (cost $4,600) in use at Patti’s care facility, I remarked how different my life would be IF I had one of these at home. An aide pointed out that she had seen one on craigslist for only a couple hundred bucs.

Checking out craigslist I found “Hoyer electric patient lift. Model HPL402. 3 1/2 years old. Good condition and everything works as it should. These list new at $2500, this is for sale for $600.”

With a few clicks more of Internet searching I found a couple NEW Hoyer model HPL402 listing for $1,600.

Shifting to eBay a search of “Hoyer lifts” revealed a NEW model for only $1,295. However, reading the fine print it was actually an Invacare Reliant Plus Lift, similar concept but different brand.

NEITHER was the exact same model as used at Patti’s care facility. Then again for homecare one-person use you may not need the same high end features.

Both Disabled Dealer Magazine and usedHME.com have searchable nationwide classifieds by item and area.

While the Internet offers caregiver convenient shopping DO NOT ignore local classifieds and auctions.

There’s gold in them thar previously owned durable/home medical equipment hills. Just remember where there is gold there is also fools gold, shop wisely.

Pragmatically mining the recycled market is not prospecting.


Caregivingly Yours, Patrick Leer
web site: http://caregivinglyyours.com/
videos: http://www.youtube.com/daddyleer
musings: Patrick Ponders ...