Category: blog

Congratulations to Bob Hall’s REquipment Racers and their devoted trainer, Coach Nikki Higgins, on an inspiring 130th Boston Marathon.

They did it. Each runner completed 26.2 miles, conquered Heartbreak Hill, and together raised $160,211 (and counting!) for REquipment—an achievement worthy of a race as challenging and iconic as Boston.

This was a truly special team, united by a shared commitment to our equipment reuse mission and to honoring Bob’s legacy. Although they may not have trained side by side, as half the team was spread across the country, with one member traveling all the way from Australia, they were remarkably in sync, with many crossing the finish line within moments of one another. They met personal goals and supported each other every step of the way.

Drew Jemeison, whose son uses assistive technology for communication, shared a simple but powerful message over social media at 7 a.m. the following morning:

“BOB, WE DID IT.”

It’s hard not to choke up reading that. Bob Hall had planned to be there, cheering on his inaugural charity team and placing medals around each runner’s neck as they crossed the finish line. But he passed away just eight days before race day. The loss was devastating for those who loved him, for this program, and for his runners.

Still, the team churned those feelings into yet more determination to make Bob proud.

He may no longer be with us, but it’s impossible not to feel that Bob was in Boston on Monday. He was with every wheelchair racer whose path was shaped by his groundbreaking efforts to bring the sport into the mainstream.

He was in the alloys of each set of wheels, his Hall’s Wheels legacy embedded in the very design and evolution of the sport.

And most of all, he was with his REquipment Racers, celebrating their dedication and collective impact: over $160,000 raised to help Massachusetts residents access the equipment they need for home, work, school, and community life.

We are deeply grateful to this team for carrying Bob Hall’s legacy forward with every mile and every dollar raised.

And to Coach Nikki Higgins—thank you for your incredible leadership and generosity. With more than 20 years of experience as a running coach, race coordinator, and community builder, Nikki has worked with athletes of all levels, from first-time runners to seasoned marathoners.

Her connection to REquipment is also deeply personal. Our program helped her mother maintain independence through access to wheelchair equipment when insurance would not cover it. Her father is also deeply involved in the disability community as Executive Director of Independence Associates—one of REquipment’s reuse partners as a drop-off location for equipment. Nikki and her family have long supported REquipment’s mission, making her an especially meaningful leader for this team.

We are also incredibly grateful to the 892 supporters who donated to this campaign. You were the wind at our runners’ backs.

Thank you as well to our sponsors, Lynn Products, Inc., Not Impossible Labs, and Northeastern University BONES, for helping make this journey possible.

And finally, we send this message out into the universe:

Thank you, Bob.

You broke barriers for athletes and transformed what is possible for people with disabilities around the world. You are deeply missed, and your legacy will continue to move us forward every single day.

 

Please join us on April 20th for a wonderful day of camaraderie at the Boston Marathon.

REquipment is delighted to share an opportunity to rally for reuse and our Bank of America Boston Marathon Charity Program runners as they climb Heartbreak Hill.

These 15 racers have been training for months for marathon day, raising funds for REquipment within their communities, honored to further the legacy of Boston’s original wheelchair marathoner, Bob Hall.

Bob Hall has spent his long career busting barriers for disabled athletes, not only as a ground-breaking competitor, but also as a designer of specialized equipment — from racing chairs to uniskis.

In 1975, Bob gave it his all, finishing the Boston Marathon in under three hours in a clunky hospital-style chair. His achievement dazzled spectators and race organizers alike.

Bob went on to pioneer wheelchair racing in marathons around the world, and to originate and refine chair designs for competition as well as everyday use. He transformed convention and broke the mold on how people perceive disability, both on and off the race course.

Now Bob has created a legacy fund to benefit REquipment, Inc, the nonprofit that delivers free refurbished durable medical equipment and assistive technology — along with independence, safety, and greater dignity — to Massachusetts residents with all forms of disabilities.

The Bob Hall Legacy Fund is a huge honor. It’s also a great opportunity. The fund furthers Bob Hall’s legacy by raising private dollars and a broader base of support for REquipment, Inc. at a time when public funds are under extraordinary pressure.

Excited to help?

Join REquipment on race day, April 20th. REquipment CEO Adriana Mallozzi, REquipment staff members, and volunteers from Northeastern University will be giving t-shirts away at the green tent at the crosswalk between Center Street and Commonwealth Avenue in Newton (use Heartbreak Hill Running Company as a landmark).

Together, we’ll cheer on the extraordinary efforts of Bob Hall’s REquipment Racers as they fight their way up Heartbreak Hill.

Support our athletes and our cause: better access to essential medical equipment and assistive technology for individuals with disabilities across Massachusetts.

Can’t make it? Consider making a financial donation to our team.

This fall, a student at a local university contacted us about a power wheelchair she’d seen in our inventory. She needed a chair that fully reclines for use in the classroom and for climbing the steep hill of her college campus. She’d been stuck in bed in her dorm, and this chair would allow her to attend classes and maintain her full scholarship.

Her mom was over the moon to learn we would provide one right away and at no cost to the family while her daughter waited on an insurance-provided chair.

Because we had the resources to prepare this power wheelchair — get it out of storage, refurbish it, and list it online — this young woman is maintaining her scholarship. Donated power chairs require new batteries, sometimes also chargers or new tires. Equipment donations keep us going, but so do donated dollars.

Mike received a valuable power chair from REquipment two years ago. He has various health conditions, and before he had a power chair appropriate to his needs, he’d spent a reclusive year at home, unable to get outside or socialize.

The community services coordinator of his assisted living facility reached out to us this summer to tell us what a difference our program is making for her residents. And how Mike has transformed.

“He’s getting people to socialize. He’s had such an impact on this community.”

Mike’s son teamed with him and provided gourmet BBQ makings for an impromptu party. Mike worked the grill from his power chair, flipping all the burgers, and people streamed out of their apartments.

Sometimes, one chair has a domino effect, and more than one life improves.

REquipment is the only reuse program in Massachusetts that refurbishes and delivers power wheelchairs. REquipment is the only reuse program with an online inventory, so residents can browse what they need and directly request it statewide. No insurance is necessary to obtain devices from REquipment. There are no hoops or hurdles. REquipment is built on trust and compassion.

Last year, one of our drivers, Anthony, arrived to collect a large donation of pediatric equipment from a woman who had recently experienced the loss of her child. Because we provide this service, this mom did not have to find a new home for highly specialized devices, or leave them on the sidewalk, or take them to the landfill. She knew we would refurbish each piece and ready it for another child and family where it would see a second life.

As Anthony helped load the devices into the van, she told him about her son. They cried together. They hugged.

Our program is special. So are our people, and that includes you. REquipment is made possible by a community that understands how equipment can be made of more than just aluminum and steel. It can also be made of love.

Please give as generously as you can this year. And thank you for all that you do.

Learn about REquipment, Inc.’s Giving Tuesday campaign.

 

 

These are busy, busy days at REquipment. We are getting ready for our expansion. Soon assistive technology (AT) will be available free in our inventory to Massachusetts residents, and we couldn’t be more excited. Of course, we ask for your patience as we work out the kinks and wrinkles.

Here’s what’s happening:

At the start of October, we will make our new website live. (You’ll notice it’s still us, don’t worry).

There you’ll find all your favorite resources and top-level buttons for getting to the inventory, donating devices, and donating money. We will also have a link to the Get AT Stuff classifieds. This is a great way to find devices for sale, free, or wanted in Massachusetts. (It’s like Craig’s list for AT.)

In the REquipment inventory, you’ll notice a new look and feel. This is the site managed by MassMATCH. Best of all… you’ll notice AT!

If you’re following us on Facebook, you’ve seen a few of the items we are collecting and refurbishing. We have a variety of devices to launch with, and we will release them in batches as we gain our sea legs. Smaller items will be available to collect at our partner sites, may be combined with larger items for delivery, or mailed at the requester’s expense via FedEx. We will provide a shipping cost once we know what you are requesting and where you live.

Here is a sample of AT you’ll find:

A geemarc Wake Up Call. This alarm clock with bed shaker features a jumbo alarm clock with large buttons, adjustable volume (includes extra loud), and an extra large LED display. Alarm options include sound, flash, and bed shaker!

A mini bike-pedal exerciser. Great for arms or legs. Use at the office or home to increase circulation, relieve tension, burn calories, and build strength.

A cool grabber tool for reaching and grasping. This one has a rotating claw and magnetic tips! (Brand new, too.)

Cane tips… designed for all-terrain travel and better stability. Add a wide base to your cane or set of crutches to increase the cane’s contact with the ground. Works with most canes and crutches that have a 3/4″ diameter shaft.

A Humanware Trekker talking GPS! This is an orientation aid that locates your position through Global Positioning System (GPS) and relays it to digital maps of your area. This item includes a case, charger, user guide, and an external speaker. It does need a USB cable.

As you can tell, we’ve expanded the variety and types of devices we are accepting for donation.  If you’d like to donate a piece of equipment that could have a great second life with a Massachusetts neighbor, please let us know. Here is the updated list of what we are accepting and not accepting.

Choose to reuse! And thank you for caring for your community.

Andrea Dominovic was determined to tell this story. It took several weeks to get permission from her workplace, but “Nurse Andrea” (as she is known) never gave up. She says it’s what her patient would have wanted, and so she made time to talk with us during her busy workday.

Last spring, her patient, “Nary,” passed away from metastasized colon cancer. She was 38 years old and left behind a fiancé and three children: a boy, age 8, and two girls, ages 10 and 18.

Nary had qualified for Andrea’s case management once she was considered “disabled.” By this point, she was having difficulty walking or standing for any period of time. She told Andrea she hadn’t been out of her house in months except for medical appointments.

Andrea knew that Nary qualified for a wheelchair through insurance. But she also knew that the paperwork, approval process, and equipment supplier would take weeks. Nary needed a wheelchair much sooner. Her “big wish” was to attend the upcoming Cambodian New Year’s celebration. The holiday is a three-day event in April, and Nary wanted to share it with her family.

Andrea says Nary “was one of the nicest, most likable people. She appreciated the smallest gestures and put everyone else’s needs before her own.” Her character is irrelevant to her need for a wheelchair, of course. But acknowledging her gentle, generous spirit honors her. It also puts into stark relief the cruelty of our healthcare system’s hoops and hurdles.

When Andrea met Nary, she was sharing her mother’s walker.

A colleague suggested Andrea try REquipment for a free wheelchair. The REquipment program was designed to avoid healthcare obstacles. Since 2014, REquipment has reassigned more than 10,000 pieces of donated durable medical equipment. Manual wheelchairs are our most requested item, and every wheelchair, we suspect, has a story.

At REquipment’s online inventory, Andrea found two wheelchair options. Nary was able to select the chair she wanted and submit the release form right away. Within a few days, our staff called Andrea to arrange a pick-up time in Worcester (since delivery takes longer). “I thought it was very easy,” she told us. She brought Nary her wheelchair that day.

In Cambodia, celebrating the new year begins with people decorating their homes and themselves for the arrival of the new year’s angel. Then there’s giving gifts, visiting temples for blessings, tossing baby powder at one another, and honoring parents and grandparents to receive advice and good wishes for the coming year. From what Andrea tells us, the celebration in this country includes three days of food and picnics.

Nary enjoyed all of it.

We often say that durable medical equipment keeps people safe, helps them get to work and school, and even extends or saves lives. In this case, saving a life happened at the end of life. Nary had her wheelchair for six weeks before she died.

Nary told Andrea, “‘Oh my god, I had a blast! We attended the celebration, and we’ve also been out to eat several times since you brought over the wheelchair.’” She also told Andrea that she was able to do “the simple things, like go out on a date, go out with her kids and get some lunch, or just go over to the park.”

Nary was used to pushing past her pain to put on a brave face for her family. This time, she did it to truly live the last six weeks of her life.

We’re grateful Andrea shared Nary’s story with us, and we thanked her for picking up the wheelchair so that Nary could have it for as long as possible.

We like to think of Nary using it, tossing baby powder with her children, laughing.

When Andrea first met Nary’s kids, she says they were so quiet and frightened for their mother. Now she tells us, “If it wasn’t for you guys, I’m not sure any of these last moments with Nary would have happened. The family is so grateful. These are moments that her kids and fiancé can always remember her by.”

REquipment is proud to learn that our gently used, durable home medical equipment is supporting the mission of Louison House in North Adams, Massachusetts. Louison House provides unhoused neighbors and those facing housing insecurity with creative housing solutions and “innovative special services” (says the Louison House website). Those services include tapping our equipment inventory for their shelter residents.

“When I know we have a resident coming who needs something, I start looking on your website right away,” says Maureen Clark, Resident Services Director for the Louison House Transitional Housing Shelter. “I also keep my ear out for equipment to donate back.”

Last year, this informal partnership had a profound effect on the lives and well-being of three community members in the northern Berkshires. The residents arrived at the shelter with an acute need for durable medical equipment, and all three left with their needs met, thanks to REquipment and Maureen’s diligence.

“One gentleman, a proud southern man,” Maureen recalls, was at first too proud to use the manual wheelchair she obtained for him though his need for it was obvious. He grudgingly accepted the chair but “kind of fought with himself about it” while he stayed at Louison House. Now, Maureen says, she sees him with it all over town. “Which is good because he’d always been a social butterfly,” she laughs.

The chair, put simply, gave him back to himself.

Another resident, a long-time chair user who’d had multiple strokes, arrived at Louison House with his manual wheelchair in shambles. “The tires were worn, the seat was falling apart, handles coming off. His need was dire.” Keeping an eye on our inventory, Maureen obtained him his first-ever power wheelchair. “It put less stress on his hands and restored his mobility, which meant he didn’t have to rely on his PCA worker for everything. That chair did what it needed to do.”

The third resident was a woman who had not yet used powered mobility equipment though she has MS, diabetes, and a seizure disorder. Concerned, Maureen acted quickly when she saw a scooter appear in REquipment’s inventory. Maureen knows we only get a handful of power scooters donated each year and that they go quickly. She also understands the positive impact a scooter could have on a woman with progressive MS.

“Now she lives where there are sidewalks, and if she wants, she can get over to the sub shop and get a sandwich and over to the social security office because that’s a local office. She is very happy and appreciative,” Maureen emphasizes.

On its website, Louison House lists Compassion, Respect, and Empowerment among its core values. These are values we’ve long understood to be furthered by DME reuse.

We asked Maureen, “What has REquipment meant for your program?”

She responded simply, “Dignity. Independence. And hope.”

Learn more about REquipment at diligent-gray-hare.162-244-253-142.cpanel.site/.

Congratulations to Jeremy “Jem” Patrick!

This year’s competition was fierce. We had some extraordinary applicants. In the end, however, Jem Patrick’s application surfaced with just the right blend of academic commitment and community engagement—fueled by personal experience—to take the prize.

Jem is pursuing a BS with a self-designed concentration in assistive technology (AT). They discovered the AT field when they joined the school’s Disability Culture Club. From there, they found their way to support students in the UMass AT Lab and to an internship at Stavros (a REquipment program partner!), where they helped refurbish durable medical equipment.

Jem’s application essay makes powerful points:

“With the skills I learned from my internship, I have become the go-to mechanic whenever anyone has issues with their wheelchairs or other DME. As part of the community, the people I help aren’t just nameless clients; they’re my friends, my roommate, my partner. By expanding my skills and pursuing this career, I am directly helping those closest to me.”

About the Jen Baker Memorial Scholarship, Jem writes: “It will allow me to develop the skill to better aid those closest to me, as well as people just coming to terms with a new disability, as I was only a couple of years ago. To me, a career in AT is not just a job; it is my responsibility to my community.”

Congratulations again, Jeremy Patrick. We are thrilled to support you on your professional and personal journey and excited for the wealth of experience you will bring to the AT/DME reuse field.

The Jennifer Baker Memorial Scholarship is a $1,000 award that honors the memory of our beloved program director, who passed away at the start of 2022. Jen Baker was a lifelong learner who helped build the REquipment program.