Loans durable medical equipment. Items may be borrowed for up to six months. Provides adult incontinence supplies. Also provides assistance to complete advanced directives and enroll in Medicare.

Family Health Care Amigos | Family Health Care Amigos

Programs that collect medical equipment and supplies (such as sickroom equipment, hospital beds, monitoring devices, resuscitation equipment, respiratory aids, incontinence supplies and first aid kits) as they become available and distribute whatever they have on hand to people who need them. Because acquisition of these materials is intermittent, it is difficult to specify exactly which items may be available at any given time.

Occasional Medical Equipment/Supplies

Programs that pay for, loan, or otherwise provide access to aids such as canes, gait trainers, single or double crutches, or walkers for people who need a means of support while walking in order to be fully mobile.

Walking Aids

Programs that pay for or provide wheeled mobility devices that are propelled by their occupants or by someone else who pushes the wheelchair. Skilled users can control speed and turning and often learn to balance the chair on its rear wheels, a maneuver that allows the individual to climb and descend curbs and move over small obstacles. Manual wheelchairs are lighter than their powered counterparts, provide for maximum independence of movement and are easier to manage. 

Manual Wheelchairs

Thrift shops, clothing banks and other similar organizations that are actively seeking individuals who are willing, on a voluntary basis without remuneration, to sort donated items, price them and organize them on display.

Thrift Shop Support Volunteer Opportunities

Programs that provide assistance for people who want to draft a living will, also sometimes known as a personal directive, which describes in writing the forms of treatment individuals wish to receive or avoid at the end of their lives and the circumstances under which health care professionals should withhold or remove artificial life support or refrain from using heroic measures if the person is unable to provide informed consent due to incapacitation. The conditions in a living will take effect when the individual is in an irreversible condition and is not expected to survive, e.g., if they are in the last stages of a terminal illness, a coma or persistive vegetative state. Included are programs that provide copies of the necessary form as well as those that help people complete them. Not all states recognize the validity of living wills, but all have some mechanism such as a durable power attorney for health care which achieves the same objective.

Living Wills

Programs that provide assistance for people who want to prepare an advance psychiatric directive which officially authorizes another individual to make mental health care decisions on their behalf should they become legally incompetent to make their own decisions; provides instructions about the circumstances under which they can change their agent and who should be appointed as their guardian if a court decides to name one; documents their wishes regarding hospitalization and alternatives to hospitalization, medications, electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), emergency interventions (including seclusion, restraint and medication) and experimental studies or drug trials; provides instructions regarding who should be notified in case of psychiatric hospitalization, who should be allowed to visit (or be prevented from visiting) and who should have temporary custody of their children; and specifies whether they have the right to suspend or terminate the power of attorney, if permitted within the jurisdiction, while incapacitated.

Durable Power of Attorney for Mental Health Care

Legal forms that people who have life-threatening medical conditions can obtain which instruct emergency personnel to take no action should their vital functions cease. If the individual is personally incapable of requesting the form, DNR orders can be issued by a physician if the individual has signed a living will or other directive, and can be requested by the individual's legally authorized representative, guardian and/or qualified relatives, usually the person's spouse and children. Bracelets, necklaces or other devices that patients may use to confirm the existence of a DNR order may also be available. DNR orders are governed by state law, and, where legal, are recognized by all hospitals and may be recognized in specified out-of-hospital settings, e.g., by EMT personnel responding to a medical emergency.

Do Not Resuscitate Orders

Organizations that are actively seeking individuals with the requisite skills who are willing to help them raise money to support their services (or to distribute to other groups) on a voluntary basis without remuneration.

Fundraising Volunteer Opportunities

Programs that provide assistance for people who want to officially authorize another individual (and one or more alternates) to make health care decisions on their behalf in the event that they become incapacitated and are unable to make those decisions themselves. The appointed agent is authorized to review the medical records of the individual, admit and/or discharge the individual from a hospital or nursing facility, consult with his or her caregivers and sign forms that may be needed to assure that care is provided according to his or her preferences. The agent may also carry out the individual's preferences regarding organ donation.

Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care

Government and nonprofit agencies that have positions within their organizations for individuals who have been convicted of an offense and ordered by the court to do community service in lieu of or in addition to incarceration, fines, restitution or other sanctions.

Court Ordered Community Service Sites

Programs that provide stools, benches, chairs and other seating equipment that allow people who have difficulty standing to sit while taking a shower or a bath. Included are portable devices that can be moved into and out of a shower stall or bathtub and folding seats that can be affixed to a shower wall.

Shower/Bath Seats

Programs that pay for or provide wheeled mobility devices that are powered by electric motors which propel the chair and support other functions such as tilt, recline, leg elevation and seat elevation. Users typically control speed and direction by operating a joystick on a controller. Alternative input devices such as chin controls and puff/suck scanners are available for users who lack coordination or the use of their hands or fingers. Power chairs may be designed specifically for indoor use, outdoor use, or both; and have rear wheel, front wheel and mid-wheel drive options.

Powered Wheelchairs

Programs that pay for or provide male and female portable urinals, bed pans, potty seats, commodes, commode chairs, toilet safety frames, wide access toilet seats, elevated toilet seats or other toileting aids for people who are unable to leave their beds to use the bathroom or who require adaptations to use the bathroom toilet.

Toileting Aids

Programs that pay for or provide products which support and cushion areas of the body such as the posterior, back, neck or head when sitting or lying down.

Cushioning/Support Devices

Programs that pay for or provide adult diapers and other garments, bedding protection, control devices and alarm systems to help people who have bowel or urination control problems deal with their situation.

Incontinence Supplies

Organizations that are actively seeking individuals who are willing, on a voluntary basis without remuneration, to decorate or otherwise prepare a facility for a special event e.g., set up tables and chairs or put up/take down a tent; help with participant registration; staff an information booth, manage a silent auction table or do other work during the event; and clean up afterwards.

Event Setup/Cleanup Volunteer Opportunities

Organizations that are actively seeking individuals with the requisite skills and experience who are willing, on a voluntary basis without remuneration, to take responsibility for planning and coordinating special events. Activities may include arranging event logistics, renting  suitable space, overseeing decoration of the facility or other preparations, assigning tasks to supporting staff/volunteers and supervising their activities, and ensuring that the event runs smoothly.

Event Coordination Volunteer Opportunities

Divisions of businesses or nonprofit agencies that are responsible for developing products or delivering designated services to the public. Departments of NGOs are generally led by a manager, supervisor, director or vice president.

Nongovernmental Agency Departments

Organizations that are actively seeking individuals who are willing, on a voluntary basis without remuneration, to organize, sort, inventory and package donations arriving by bus, truck, air or rail.