Disciple: Keeping It Simple
By Christine McTaggart
If you believe in “meant to be,” it’s hard to find a better example of it in action than Lyn’s Medical Loan Closet, a ministry of Trinity, Mt. Airy. Named for the former rector instrumental in green-lighting the project, the loan closet has, in less than one year, gone from a small ministry with modest hopes to a valued and key resource within the community it serves.
AN OLD FRIEND RETURNS
It began in September 2017, when former rector the Rev. Bob Cathers returned to Trinity to share his work with the medical loan closet founded by St. James Episcopal Church in Hendersonville, North Carolina. Cathers was the rector at Trinity 30 years ago and has been involved in the Hendersonville medical closet for the last 20 years. Though long since departed from Trinity, the church stayed with Cathers, and hearing it was thinking about its next steps in ministry, he returned to Trinity to visit with and speak to the congregation about starting a medical loan closet in Mt. Airy for Surry County.
“He was just so excited to share it with us,” said Brenda Goings, ministry volunteer and senior warden at Trinity.
He was not the only one. Then-rector the Rev. Lyn Stabler-Tippett was excited to hear about it and recognized immediately a medical loan closet could be the answer to Trinity’s search for a ministry that would serve and be adaptable to the surrounding community. The proposal even came with a roadmap in the form of a notebook that “had everything we needed,” said Goings. “Pictures, directions and point-by-point instructions on paperwork, set up, how to work with customers—just everything.”
Stabler-Tippett tasked vestry member Bill Noble to go through the notebook and explore the possibility of pursuing the ministry. Within weeks, a group had been put together, four of whom drove to Hendersonville to see their medical closet in action.
“We were overwhelmed,” said Noble. “They’ve been in business more than 50 years in Henderson County, and it’s such a simple idea that works to an extravagant degree. This ministry really grabs you.”
It didn’t let go, and by October, Trinity was actively working toward opening the doors of the ministry in early 2018. “We recognized the potential right from the beginning,” said Noble. “We had such an introduction to the ministry through our patron, the medical closet in Hendersonville, and the notebook they gave us to guide us. It was a startup catalog, with everything we needed, and Hendersonville even provided us with the first 118 pieces of equipment. They absolutely primped the pump.”
Trinity spent the remaining months of 2017 setting up the ministry: completing paperwork, finding a location, organizing volunteers and bringing in the initial inventory. By January, the core volunteers were receiving internal training in the running of the ministry and the details of dealing with customers and fitting medical equipment. On January 30, 2018, a little more than four months after first hearing about the ministry, the doors to Lyn’s Medical Closet opened.
A COMMUNITY CORNERSTONE
“It works just like a library,” said Noble, “only we loan medical equipment.” The loan closet does not, under any circumstances, offer medical advice, though they will assist with the fitting of crutches or wheelchairs. Equipment is loaned for 90 days (hospital beds are loaned for 180 days) with the option to renew, and the process is as simple as the client (or their representative) filling out an agreement promising to bring it back on time and naming a responsible party if the equipment is not returned. There is no charge for the equipment, and the closet is open to all residents of Surry County, regardless of income.
It might be supposed that with such generosity on the part of the loan closet, disappearing inventory could be a problem. The reality is exactly the opposite. “So far, we haven’t had a problem with someone not returning equipment,” said Noble. But even if equipment did disappear on a regular basis, the ministry would go on.
“We worried about [disappearing equipment] when we were thinking about starting the ministry,” said Noble, “but we came to realize that this is about putting medical equipment into the hands of those who need it. That’s the ministry. If we loan a piece of medical equipment and never see it again, we have still fulfilled our ministry by providing medical equipment where it is needed. But we haven’t experienced any loss.”
The care with which the equipment is treated coupled with the response of the Mt. Airy community clearly illustrates just how much the ministry is needed and valued. It was evident the day the ministry opened its doors for an open house; it was hoped a dozen people might come by. More than 65 attended.
It hasn’t stopped, and the energy around the medical closet both through Trinity and the surrounding community continues to grow. So has the closet, and it’s mostly been through word of mouth. A poster was created by a Trinity parishioner, and, said Noble, “just about every member has picked up a poster and taken it to their favorite store or restaurant and asked to put it up.” A doctor in the congregation took posters to the local hospital, and the image also hangs proudly in a local orthopedist’s office.
“We’re very proud that at least a third of our patients come to us from health care providers,” said Noble. “Home health aides, nurses and hospice all recognize the value of this service and ministry, and they’re spreading the word.”
They’re also bringing medical equipment. Because equipment purchased through Medicare cannot be used again, health care professionals are guiding used equipment to the medical closet. The local hospice brings equipment from their facilities when patients are done with it, and another local health care provider now brings a monthly donation of equipment that before was taken to the dump or destroyed because Medicare regulations prevented its reuse. A relationship with Surry Medical Ministries, the area’s free clinic, has become another valued partnership. Professionals are not the only donors, though.
“Donations come from everybody who has ever had a problem that required a cane or crutches or a wheelchair,” said Noble. “They’re bringing it all from attics and garages—it comes from all over the place!” He chuckles as he describes it, but sounds only grateful when he adds, “Starting out, we thought this ministry was about letting merchandise out the door. And it is, but it’s only half of it. The other half is the people who give to the ministry. [Everyone donating] merchandise is partaking in the ministry, and that’s how they see it.”
The result is undeniable. Lyn’s Medical Closet opened its doors with 118 pieces of medical equipment valued at $11,000. In only seven months, it grew to more than 340 pieces of equipment valued at $41,000. It was projected by the end of 2018 that the loan closet would serve more than 200 patients in its first 11 months.
“We serve everybody,” said Noble. “The automatic thought is that we serve the poor or the people without means, and we do. But we also serve the person who just broke their leg and needs a pair of crutches. It’s all people—we serve the entire community.”
DON’T REINVENT THE WHEEL
As the ministry looks ahead to 2019, it hopes to expand its volunteer base to allow the closet to be open additional hours during the week. Currently served by a core group of eight Trinity members, volunteers serve in teams of two, one day per week, essentially serving one shift per month to ensure consistency and prevent burnout. Trinity is reaching out to invite volunteers from other sources, and as soon as another team of eight is assembled, the loan closet will be able to open additional days of the week.
When asked of lessons learned that might teach others interested in starting a ministry, Noble said, “keep it simple. And talk to others who have done something similar to what you want to do. Learn from their mistakes and experience. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”
Most importantly, he said, know that God is with you. “God has been a part of this ministry since day one,” said Noble. “No one could possibly have put this together in four months like we did without getting a single ‘no.’ We never got a no! Whatever we needed or were requesting, we got. He guided us, and we followed that direction. He was—and is—right with us.”
Christine McTaggart is the communications director for the Diocese of North Carolina.
Tags: North Carolina Disciple
