Adaptive Renewal: Transforming Medical Equipment Waste Through An Exchange Network

Photo Description: A child that the Kelly Anne Dolan Memorial Fund would likely help through an adaptive equipment exchange program. Photo courtesy of the Dolan Fund.

By harp-weaver staff

How to deal with waste is a question arising frequently in society. Food waste, electronic waste, and other types of waste proliferate in a consumer-dominated world.

This includes the waste of medical equipment, specifically adaptive equipment. Adaptive equipment includes items such as wheelchairs, seating systems, bathing equipment, feeding chairs, walkers, and other items used to help children and adults “adapt” to their medical needs and circumstances. People then get rid of their adaptive equipment for multiple reasons – the patient’s needs change, the equipment becomes outdated, insurance policies allow for purchase of new materials, the equipment doesn’t match needs, and/or there are limited repair opportunities. Whatever the reason, the abandonment rates of this type of equipment are high. For example, studies have found that wheelchair abandonment rates can range from 18-30%, home health equipment abandonment rates are at 40-50%, and general adaptive equipment abandonment rates hover around 30%. In particular, children outgrow adaptive equipment more quickly as they physically grow and/or grow out of their old supplies.

One solution to address the issue of pediatric equipment waste is an exchange network. These networks, often created by parents, offer places to exchange equipment. The networks are often informal, which allows for flexibility in creation and use; however, informality risks having a platform that is not maintained or regularly updated.

In Philadelphia, the Kelly Anne Dolan Memorial Fund (Dolan Fund) sought to address those issues by partnering with iSpring. The Dolan Fund provides financial assistance and direct support for needs not covered by insurance and a variety of respite programs for families residing in or children receiving care in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. They also advocate for and provide educational resources to families nationwide.

Within their current work, the Dolan Fund realized that a great deal of adaptive equipment was thrown away when it could still work for another family. So, they reached out to iSpring, which develops product cycling platforms built on ecommerce and resource planning technology, innovative circular operations and local logistics that deliver the same retail revenue with a fraction of the inventory investment.

The collaborative expertise of these organizations facilitates both the initial implementation and continued utilization of adaptive equipment. The Dolan Fund already serves as an informal broker between families to rehome this equipment and supplies. Based on their knowledge and efforts, they identified that developing a program and platform to enable easy reuse and exchange of adaptive equipment and unused supplies. This type of platform, of which iSpring has particular expertise developing, would increase the number of families the Dolan Fund could serve and ensure that more of these items get into the hands of those who need them.

“Our meetings [with iSpring] have been productive in mapping out the platform’s framework, educational in deepening our understanding of the full experiences of families who rely on medical and mobility equipment, and creative in proactively addressing potential challenges to ensure the process will be as smooth and accessible as possible for both families and donors,” Dolan Fund Program Manager Lauren Van Buren shared.

While the program is not yet live, Van Buren shared that they’re making strong progress.

“We’ve already begun receiving mobility equipment in excellent condition from families we serve through other Dolan Fund programs. It’s been encouraging to see how eager our community is to give back and support one another in this way, and we’re excited to see how this project will grow.”