West Valley medical equipment 'library' works to meet growing demand

By Madeline Ackley
Twitter: @Mkayackley

From the outside, the Southwest  Lending Closet is a small, friendly looking building in west Avondale. You might not guess that every year, this modest 1,800 square-foot building supplies thousands of Arizona residents with the durable medical equipment they need at no cost.

The Lending Closet’s Executive Director Ann DeVlaeminck describes the organization as a library, but instead of renting books, they rent crutches, knee scooters, wheel chairs and bedside commodes to name just a few. 

Inside the building is a room filled with durable medical equipment. Crutches line the walls, and walkers are neatly stacked on shelves up to the ceiling. Bedside commodes and shower benches line the walls, and wheelchairs are folded and stored neatly on racks. The tidy storage room contains a wide variety of supplies, but much of their inventory is stored off-site.

The Lending Closet helps people “maintain their independence, and frankly their dignity” as they recover from injuries, DeVlaeminck said. 

She’s worked at the Lending Closet for eight years, five as executive director. When she retired as a Wells Fargo IT executive, she wanted to find a place to donate her time.

Because of her background in data, she gravitated toward a grant writing position, so she signed up for a two-week grant writing course to help her get started.  

Unlike her classmates, DeVlaeminck was not yet connected to a charity, so the instructor told her to pair up with someone who was. That’s when she learned that the charity her partner belonged to had geographical restrictions, and wouldn’t help an Avondale resident, like herself.  

It’s part of the reason she gravitated toward the Lending Closet. The organization has no geographical restrictions, so any Arizona resident can borrow equipment, and unlike some lending Lending Closets, they don’t charge fees or require a doctor’s note to rent equipment. 

“The reason I am here is because we don’t say no,” DeVlaeminck said. “We help everybody, everybody.” 

Filling a need

The Lending Closet provides an important service, as the cost of durable medical equipment can be prohibitively expensive. This is especially true for low-income people, including seniors living off their monthly Social Security check, or people already buried in medical debt. 

Items like wheelchairs can cost clients $200 to buy retail. Some wheelchairs, available at the Lending Closet, can cost up to $800, and insurance doesn’t always cover the cost. 

Even when they do, “they’re only going to buy you one,” DeVlaeminck said. 

The problem is, even people who can afford to purchase their medical equipment are not always sure of what they need.  “All they know is they want to get grandpa home,” 

The Lending Closet allows people to test out equipment, and exchange what doesn’t work for something better. It also allows people to check out equipment for their relatives, friends or neighbors. 

Clients can borrow equipment for up to 90 days; often enough time for people to recover from a temporary injury, or purchase the necessary equipment for more long-term needs.  

The pandemic slowed the Lending Closet’s operations in 2020, but according to DeVlaeminck, the Lending Closet still managed to serve 5,000 people from 60 different cities and towns in Arizona. 

Many of the Lending Closet’s clients are west Valley residents, especially those from the city of Goodyear. “Goodyear is our number one user,” DeVlaeminck said. The city is also one of its largest financial supporters. 

Over the summer, the Lending Closet was among 27 nonprofits supported by the city of Goodyear as part of its community funding program for fiscal year 2021-22. It received $14,000--one of the larger amounts granted by the city. 

The Lending Closet also receives support from Litchfield Park, Avondale, Buckeye and Tolleson “through competitive grant processes,” DeVlaeminck said. Donations also come from rotary clubs, corporations and the clients themselves, who have been helped by the Lending Closet and want to see its operations continue.  

‘Manageable,’ but not ideal

The organization was founded in 2000 by Glo O’Donnell, Linda Wyman and Ellen Nelson, who saw a need for a lending Lending Closet in the Southwest Valley.

Back then, the Lending Closet was only open between two and three days a week. 

DeVlaeminck, who joined the organization in 2013, said that in the past, volunteers would bring their crossword puzzles and crochet hooks to kill time between clients. But not these days. 

“Now, it's rare that the volunteers just have time to sit around and chit chat...because we're just crazy busy,” she said. 

The current situation is “manageable,” DeVlaeminck said, but not ideal. Demand for the nonprofit’s services has grown, but its operations haven’t kept pace in all areas.

The Lending Closet is busier than ever, serving nearly 200 clients per week. It’s now open six days a week for three hours a day, and there are times when the Lending Closet is short of staff.

DeVlaeminck said that right now, the organization has about 45 volunteers, but could use more. It’s nearly 100% volunteer-run, minus paid contractors who clean the equipment in a back room that resembles an oversized shower. DeVlaeminck herself does not take a paycheck. 

Another issue is the building’s size which can become quite cramped. For that reason, much of the Lending Closet’s inventory is stored off-site and volunteers use the executive director’s own truck to transport inventory to and from storage.

The organization’s operations are also hindered by its outdated filing system. While grants from the city of Goodyear have helped the organization begin the process of digitizing its inventory, much of its operations are still paper-based.  

“It doesn't matter if you came and saw us yesterday,” DeVlaeminck said. “If you come in today, we need to write down your name and your address and your phone number on a piece of paper where we can put it in our notebook.” 

Eventually, she hopes to have a system where clients’ information can be stored on their computers, and for all inventory to correspond to a barcode. She also dreams of expanding the building in place. 

But the organization is making moves. Its website was recently redone, as was the old logo. The annual Fire Hose Frenzy-- the organization’s only fundraising event of the year--did better than expected last fall. The event brought in $20,000--roughly the same as the year before--even though it was live-streamed rather than in-person due to the pandemic.  

Their goal this year is $30,000.

DeVlaeminck’s original “retirement” lasted less than four days before she came to work at the Southwest Lending Lending Closet eight years ago. 

She wants to retire for real someday, but she doesn’t want to call it quits just yet. 

When asked what keeps her going, she said “for me, it’s our vision of the future.”

That vision had two main parts: the implementation of the new inventory system, and the building’s expansion. 

The first part is starting to come to fruition. As for the building, she hopes to see it expanded to  4,000 feet, and she’s not leaving “until we ink a contract for expansion.”

Until then, DeVlaeminck will continue to lead one of the state’s only lending closets that will serve anyone who comes through those doors and into the small, neat lobby.  

For more information or to borrow equipment, go to swlendingcloset.org.

Madeline Ackley can be reached at mackley@iniusa.org or found on Twitter @Mkayackley.