Where to donate extra CPAP equipment for needy

Not for me, as Im new user, but friend here in Northern California has some used CPAP equipment he would like to donate to help others, who cant afford the equipment. Are their charities that redistribute this?
Would be good to reuse, and save the environment and lives.

It's a serious problem-- mountains of junked CPAP equipment and no way to deal with it but trash.

Second Wind cpap will take machines but they must have very few hours on them, under 2,000. There may be a handful of other charities that do so as well.

But what I can definitely say is no one will take old used stuff and just hand it over to the poor. It's technically medical waste (hear of ebola lately?) and should never be resold without sterilizing or reconditioning etc. Only a handful of organizations like Second Wind bother with all the work involved.

You could try just putting the stuff on craigslist for a nominal fee.

Otherwise, truly impoverished people would be on Medicaid anyway and will have access to new machines, etc., through that. Slightly less poor folks are the ones with difficulty getting access to machines so they could benefit, and maybe wouldn't mind paying a few dollars online.

I still have my father's old broken machine that Second Wind didn't want. I am going to price shipping it, plus my old junky cushions, back to Respironics to deal with. If the manufacturers wont make this stuff easily recyclable at home, then they themselves should deal with it at the end of its useful life.

snorebeard wrote:Not for me, as Im new user, but friend here in Northern California has some used CPAP equipment he would like to donate to help others, who cant afford the equipment. Are their charities that redistribute this?
Would be good to reuse, and save the environment and lives.

Contact STL Mark - he has a thread titled "Benefit sale to help DoriC" is you are so inclined to help.

hyperlexis wrote: Otherwise, truly impoverished people would be on Medicaid anyway and will have access to new machines, etc., through that.

Except in some states medicaid only purchases one CPap per lifetime and we all know no machine lasts forever.

Guest wrote:Contact STL Mark - he has a thread titled "Benefit sale to help DoriC" is you are so inclined to help.

I don't think Mark has the room to store used masks or hoses and they really have no value to help out Dori that much anyway.
Plus I think his own life has become complicated and handling all that is involved with the "helping Dori thread" has become a bit overwhelming.

I am thinking if someone wants to do that ...instead of expecting Mark to store it and handle things...maybe each person handle it themselves and then send Dori the money or through Mark since he knows all her private information.
Take some of the work load off Mark. Handling donated stuff is a lot of work.

For some reason I thought the equipment meant machines not just masks. And I certainly had no idea about Marks situ.

Sorry, My bad.

Guest wrote:For some reason I thought the equipment meant machines not just masks.

No problem...I don't know that "used equipment" meant for sure used masks but most often if someone just mentions equipment in general I assume masks and hoses and stuff. If it was only a machine I would assume someone would mention so and so machine. I was going to wait till the OP came back to maybe have him clarify what his friend has.
Even used masks have people who need them but the people on this forum won't be paying much for used masks or hoses that are old so it would be hard to place that used equipment in a new home from just our forum member pool of users to draw upon.
I have some donated masks that are old masks...used but some in really good condition that I can't find homes for that are free. People want the latest models and not something that was popular 5 years ago.

So finding homes for old/used equipment whatever it is and how old it is...depends on what it is. If it is a machine and it has some age on it. Some of those it costs more to ship than it's worth.

I figure that when OP comes back to this thread that if I assumed wrong that I would be corrected and could figure out at that time if there is a home for whatever it is that is unwanted or unneeded now.
If it's a PR S1 BiPap...I get first dibs on it. While I don't need it myself I know someone who does.

I do know that Mark's plate is full though. Depending on what the equipment is....I might be willing to take it and try to find homes but if it's a 10 year old machine and masks that no one ever buys anymore...no sense in it taking up space in my house...it's a tiny house with one closet in the entire house. I just don't have room to store stuff that I won't be able to find homes for.

People were asking the OP to say what equipment is around. This includes CPAP machine that still work, but also used but usable masks.

What cpap machine is it?
How much age on the used masks? Silicone dries out with age and exposure to sun and air and turns yellow which might not make that much of a difference in terms of usability...it does affect appearance which will bother some people.

There are places who take donated machines but often they don't want over a certain age or number of hours.
Reggie White foundation is one. I think they have some age restrictions though.
Acbio,com / Accurate Biomed will take a donated machine even if non working and go through it and fix it and donate it as they have contacts we don't have.
http://www.acbio.com/
I think that they will even cover shipping. Seems like I saw that in a post from one of them not long ago.

I don't know of any place that actually will take used masks. Normally what people here do is just put up a note on the forum..."free to good home"..."used for so and so time"...and see if anyone here wants it for themselves or someone they know.

I think this was a good discussion to have, and we should collect information about places and organizations where this used equipment, even used masks, can help people in need of them with their apnea this way.

I have received a number of private messages from people who seem to be in need asking for the machines and questions about them. This was for someone else, and I think the machine has found a good home.

I do urge those who have equipment to follow up with the agencies and organizations posted, or to be posted, here or other places, and put the equipment to good use. I also urge those who have used machines and equipment they are willing to give to others, to do so, by the suggested posting of a New Message saying it is available. Lets do what we can to help others. We know so much about the dangers and health risks of apnea, so help others to deal with them, please.

For those with specific needs or hardships, I also urge you to post you stories and needs by a New Message, anonymously if you want, and hope that others will contact you to fulfill your needs and keep you healthy.

Thanks to all for helping out.

Just a reminder, Goodwill destroys them. Maybe they have a deal with Apria.