If you happen to have a hospital bed in good condition that you’re no longer using, there are many places, organizations, programs and online listings, which make it possible to easily redistribute medical equipment to individuals who need it, but who lack the financial resources to obtain it. So let’s go ahead and see how you can make a wonderful gift of your hospital bed.
You can consider donating your “gently used” hospital bed with all the following locations – State Assistive Technology Projects, state online equipment exchanges, reuse centers, community loan closets (state and local), bikur cholim, non-profit charities, thrift stores, medical equipment refurbishment projects, faith based organizations, local churches, private individuals on classified websites and social media platforms with marketplaces, senior centers and veterans centers.
Contents Overview & Quicklinks
Donating hospital beds and other used medical equipment to State Assistive Technology Programs
Donating hospital bed to refurbishing and reuse Centers
Donating hospital beds to Centers for Independent Living
Donating hospital beds to Loan Closets
National and international organizations which accept durable medical equipment donations
Online listing sites where you can donate medical equipment near you
Donating hospital beds in your neighborhood
Organizations near you which may know where to donate a hospital bed
Donating a hospital bed and other used medical equipment to Assistive Technology Programs
Assistive Technology Programs (AT Programs) are state run programs established with a federal grant designed to increase access, to what are called assistive technologies – these include most durable medical equipment. The programs are primarily targeting low income individuals and families, the disabled and the elderly.
Assistive Technology Programs often work with well established non-profit organizations, to provide medical equipment for free or at very low prices – it is often based on need and income, but not always.
To go to your AT Program website, click on your state in the list below.
Click on your state to go to their AT program website
Donating a hospital bed to Refurbishment and Reuse Centers
Should you make the generous choice to donate your hospital bed to a medical equipment refurbishment or reuse center, both will typically have programs designed for the redistribution of donated items, to individuals in need.
Refurbishment and reuse centers are typically run by non-profit organizations, who try to keep the costs as low as possible, so that the items can be offered.
Your hospital bed will be given to someone either for free, or for a very low fee.
Donating a hospital bed to Centers for Independent Living
Another place you can donate your hospital bed to is a Center for Independent Living. These will very often run medical equipment loan closets, accepting donations of new, or used, medical equipment for their disabled members.
“A Center for Independent Living are – Designed and operated by individuals with disabilities, Centers for Independent Living (CILs) provide independent living services for people with disabilities. CILs are at the core of ACL’s independent living programs, which work to support community living and independence for people with disabilities across the nation based on the belief that all people can live with dignity, make their own choices, and participate fully in society. These programs provide tools, resources, and supports for integrating people with disabilities fully into their communities to promote equal opportunities, self-determination, and respect.”
Source : https://acl.gov/programs/aging-and-disability-networks/centers-independent-living
To locate a center which is near to you, check this website.
Donating a hospital bed to Medical Equipment Loan Closets
Medical equipment loan closets are another option for donating any new, or gently used, medical equipment, including hospital beds.
Loan closets typically lend durable medical equipment to any members of their community who need it, in particular seniors and the disabled – a loan closet may service a neighborhood, a whole city, county, or even a large section of a state.
Typically, the closets will loan out your donation for free.
Loan closets do vary in size, from those run by larger organizations across a whole state, to smaller local community, or church loan closets, run by a few local volunteers out of a garage – note that smaller community loan closets may not accept a hospital bed, due to the size, and the amount of storage space they have available to them.
To locate a medical equipment loan closet near you, for your hospital bed donation, start by looking in a number of places –
- I find the easiest way to start is to do a search, on the internet, for “medical equipment loan closet + your location”, “medical equipment lending closet + your location”, “medical equipment lending bank + your location”, or “medical equipment bank + your location” – I try all of these in the order I have written them here
- make inquiries with your county Area Agency on Aging – to locate your county’s agency you need to go to the link here
- make inquiries with your town, or city council, human resources or seniors department, to see if they manage a loan closet for the community, or if they are aware of any
- talk with reuse or medical equipment refurbishing centers in your area – do a search for these on your search engine of choice
- Lions Clubs, Rotary Clubs and American Legion Posts also sometimes run community medical equipment loan closets
To locate a Lions Club in your area, check out my article here – How To Find A Lions Club Near Me ? A Very Quick Illustrated Guide
To locate a Rotary Club in your area, check out my article here – How To Find A Rotary Club Near Me ? A Very Quick Illustrated Guide
Bikur Cholim or Medical Equipment Gemacht – are medical equipment loan closets which are available to, and run by, members of the Jewish community.
To find one to donate your hospital bed, make inquiries at your local synagogue, or take a look here on the Chesed Match website.
Great Lakes Loan Closets
This is a very comprehensive network of several hundred loan closets, to which you can donate your hospital bed if you live in that area. It comprises loan closets which have been set up by faith based groups, churches, senior centers, and local councils. And one website has kindly gone to the trouble of listing them all.
The network as a whole services the residents of Michigan, Wisconsin, Northern Indiana and Northern Illinois.
“Loan closets typically have durable medical equipment (DME) such as wheelchairs, shower chairs, bedside commodes, walkers, crutches, canes, and high-rise toilet seats. Some may also have hospital beds or electric wheelchairs available. Each loan closet is unique, with its own set of eligibility requirements, equipment, and loan period.” – Source – the Great Lakes Loan Closets website.
If you live in the service area of the Great Lakes Loan Closets, you can find a loan closet near you to make your donation on the home page of the website here – https://loanclosets.org/
National and International organizations which accept durable medical equipment donations
Goodwill
To donate your hospital bed, locate a store near you and give them a call. You can do that with this link – https://www.goodwill.org/locator/
Salvation Army
To donate your hospital bed, click on the following link website – https://satruck.org/
EasterSeals
To locate your local affiliate and make your donation, use this link – https://www.easterseals.com/connect-locally/
The Partnership for Quality Medical Donations
The page on the website for donating your hospital bed is here – http://www.pqmd.org/pillars/donation-guidelines/
Project Cure
The page on the website for donating your hospital bed is here – https://projectcure.org/donate-supplies-equipment
REMEDY – Recovered Medical Equipment for the developing World
To donate your hospital bed to REMEDY, go to this web page – https://www.med-eq.org/Login/form.aspx?type=donate&quick=1
Advocates for World Health
The page on the website for donating durable medical equipment is here – https://awhealth.org/donate-medical-equipment/
Esperenca
To donate your hospital bed, go here – https://www.esperanca.org/donate-supplies/
MedShare
Go to the MedShare website to donate your hospital bed here – https://www.medshare.org/
HERO Healthcare Equipment Recycling Organization
You can find out more about donating on their website here – https://www.herofargo.org/wp-content/uploads/IndividualSupplies.pdf
MedWish
The page on the website for donating your hospital bed is here – https://www.medwish.org/give
Global Links
To donate your hospital bed, check out this website page – https://www.globallinks.org/our-work/programs/medical-surplus-recovery-program/individual-and-community-surplus-recovery
Global Mobility USA
You can contact them at this web address – http://www.globalmobilityusa.org/equipment-and-in-kind-donations
Medical Bridges
This is the donation page on their website – http://www.medicalbridges.org/donate/medical-supplies-and-equipment
Online listing sites where you can donate medical equipment near you
Online listings and social media platforms, allow you to donate to someone person to person, and as locally as you want.
Don’t let people come and pick the items up if you care for an elderly person at home, as you don’t want to advertise the fact that a vulnerable person lives there – not all people are nice.
I would suggest that you put the hospital bed on the corner of your street at an arranged time for the recipient to pick it up, or that you have a removal company take it to them on their dime – beds are very costly, and with the savings they are making the recipient shouldn’t complain about a delivery charge.
When posting online, on classified listings (not a problem on Facebook, Nextdoor or Freecycle), you should create a throwaway email address, as you don’t want to get inundated with spam emails – just don’t use your regular private email for this.
Remember when you are donating your item person to person, you need to state in the description of the item in your posting that you are donating it “as is”, and that you accept no liability if the new user has any sort of accident or problem with the equipment.
To see how to donate your bed on Craigslist, UsedHME.com, Facebook, Freecycle, Nextdoor, you can check out my short illustrated guides on donating new, or used, medical, equipment on each of the following platforms –
Craigslist.com – “How To Donate Used Medical Equipment Near Me On Craigslist ? An Illustrated Guide”
UsedHME.com – “How To Donate Used Medical Equipment Near Me On UsedHME ? An illustrated Guide”
Facebook.com – “How To Donate Used Medical Equipment Near Me On Facebook ? An Illustrated Guide”
Freecycle.org – “How To Donate Used Medical Equipment Near Me on Freecycle.org ? A Very Quick Illustrated Guide”
Nextdoor.com – “How To Get Free Medical Equipment Near Me On Nextdoor.com ? A Quick Illustrated Guide”
OfferUp.com – No need for an article on this, as there is a very good video showing how to use OfferUp, see below.
Donating a hospital bed in your neighborhood
No luck finding somewhere to donate your hospital bed ? Or maybe you just don’t want to donate online ? You can go to some of the following places in your area to see if they need a hospital bed –
- Local Hospitals – hospital beds are always needed
- Emergency rooms – again hospital beds are always needed
- Thrift stores – many thrift stores sell used hospital beds – call first though as not all do sell them, and some may be too small for your bed
- Senior Centers or Elderly Day Care Centers very often run loan closets, or know who does, so call some in your area
- Veterans Centers may be interested in your hospital bed for a member
- Look up local Retirement Homes and give them a call
- Call your local council Seniors’ department and ask if they have a community medical equipment loan closet, or if they know where there is one
Organizations near you who may know where to donate a hospital bed
If you are looking for informed advice on where to donate any durable equipment, here are a few organizations who may be able to suggest where you can donate it –
Area Agencies On Aging
Area Agencies on Aging are non-profit agencies which are appointed by the state to focus on helping the elderly get access to the services that are available to them in the community, so if anyone should know where you can look to donate, it’s them.
You can locate the Area Agency on Aging for your county – click here.
Social Services
Social Services in your area should also know a lot about the programs that are being run by different charitable organizations, and not just for the elderly, and may know who you can contact to donate equipment.
Faith-based Charities
Two of the faith based charities with chapters all over the US are –
The Catholic Charities
Society of St Vincent de Paul
These charities, and others, run a range of programs helping people in need, as well as refugees and victims of different kinds of abuse. You can contact them and ask if they know where you can donate your hospital bed.
To contact the charities above, in your area, type the “name of the charity + where you live”, into your web browser.
Local Town Hall or Chamber of Commerce
Your Town Hall or Chamber of Commerce will have a record of the nonprofit organizations, charities and community groups in their administrative area, which refurbish durable medical equipment and redistribute it into the community, to those in need. So, talk to them and contact the organizations to see who wants your hospital bed.
Reasons why your hospital bed may not be accepted
Don’t try to donate items which are a bit messed up, or defective in any way, you likely won’t find somewhere to donate them, except as spare parts.
Your hospital bed may need disinfecting and washing to avoid the spread of infection, and some organizations may not be equipped to handle that job, without doing so they may not be legally able to accept your donation.
Warranties are a big issue with “used” medical equipment. Many companies don’t want to get involved in handling equipment without a warranty.
There are also different state laws governing the reuse of medical equipment, and what is allowed can be different from state to state.
Tax deductions on donations
Hang on to the receipt from your donation that you make to any charities so that you can get a tax deduction – the IRS will require the receipt for the item.
I’m Gareth, the author and owner of Looking After Mom and Dad.com
I have been a caregiver for over 10 yrs and share all my tips here.
