Santa Rosa volunteer-run medical equipment recycling group secures new space

Sonoma County’s much-used, much-loved Medical Equipment Recycling Program has a new home.

And just in time.

The volunteer-run nonprofit that for decades has quietly provided low- to no-cost medical equipment for those in need were told late last year that the parking lot space on Dutton Avenue they have used for their base of operations since 2021 would no longer be available come January.

But that timeline was extended. And extended again.

And then it could be extended no more.

They were to be out by April 15.

“I really thought that we were going to have to close,” program president Tracy Hinman said.

Hinman and everyone associated with the group had put feelers out for months about their need to find a new place of operation.

Their needs were by no means grandiose, but there were some particulars that had to be a part of the deal.

They needed maybe 1,000 square feet of flat asphalt, a parking lot most likely, accessible to folks with mobility issues and one with a simple ingress and egress design.

Better yet? They were on the lookout for a corner of warehouse space that again, was accessible to all clients.

They also needed a bathroom for their volunteers.

On the face of it, the checklist doesn’t sound like a high bar, but they were coming up empty.

Turns out keeping a rental space vacant is a better tax write-off in some cases than offering that same space at a discount to a bunch of volunteers, Hinman said.

But then in a confluence of serendipity, hard work and even better connections, the organization was connected with the Child Parent Institute on Standish Avenue in southwest Santa Rosa.

All of those feelers finally paid off.

“One of my ‘lookers’ said ‘Call this guy, he’s in commercial real estate development,’” Hinman said.

Hinman did call and it turns out she knew the guy on the other end of the line.

“Bret Martin is the dad of my son’s roommate,” Hinman said.

Bret Martin’s family is behind the local Pine Creek Properties real estate firm and are longtime Sonoma County philanthropists as well as longtime supporters of the Child Parent Institute.

“We stepped right into the conversation,” Martin said.

Martin reached out to Child Parent Institute executive director Robin Bowen.

“It was, ‘Hey, I want you to meet this person and this is what they do and maybe it would be something you guys could help with,’” Bowen said.

Turns out they could.

“We talked and measured out a place in the parking lot and it worked out really well,” Bowen said. “I think it really felt like a good fit.”

And the fit was evident in more than simply offering up surplus parking lot space.

“I’m very much in the mode of supporting other nonprofits,” Bowen said.

Medical Equipment Recycling Program specializes in both giving away and selling at a deep discount gently used medical equipment. Think wheelchairs, walkers, bathroom equipment and even hospital beds.

Some of their customers are in the throes of a medical emergency and don’t have access to medical equipment via more traditional routes.

Still others don’t have the funds or insurance coverage to afford equipment.

The program encourages clients and their families who are finished with the equipment to donate it back so they can serve another person another day.

They request that items come to them clean, but they will sanitize it anyway.

And handyman and longtime volunteer Chris Thwaites is known to take equipment home for repair if he thinks he can keep it in circulation for a little while longer.

By Hinman’s math, MERP and its crew of 16 volunteers, gave away about $250,000 in medical equipment last year.

It’s worked like this for decades.

To Bowen’s way of thinking, the new deal makes sense because there is synergy between CPI’s work with parents and children — counseling, parenting classes, foster parent training, diaper giveaways — and the need the recycling program fills.

“Both young children and families and elders are part of a population that need extra support. I think there is commonality,” Bowen said. “Also the fact that they have nurses doing this work, I thought was really great. I thought it would be an interesting intersection of agencies.”

To facilitate the move, Martin’s family purchased the same type of storage containers that the recycling program had been operating out of and donated them to CPI. The recycling program’s $600 monthly rent will now go the CPI for the use of the containers.

“They are a bunch of dedicated people. We have to do something for them,” Martin said. “There is so much good stuff there, so to see a win, to see a merger?”

So in just more than a week or so, the entire equipment recycling program operation was moved from Dutton Avenue to Standish Avenue. And in an unexpected nod to the program’s past, their new home is about 75 feet from a place they had called home years ago.

Thanks to the deal with CPI, the Martin family and funds raised to cover moving expenses, the Medical Equipment Recycling Program will be open for business as usual from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday at 3650 Standish Ave., in Santa Rosa.

It’s a massive relief for Hinman, who for years has helped shepherd the recycling program along in addition to her full-time job as a care manager for Alegre Home Care.

Even a one-week hiatus, had they needed to shut down temporarily, would have been a hardship for people.

“I thought about how much can I fit in my office and keep a little bit of stuff for people who really, really need it and can’t wait,” she said. “Thankfully we don’t have to do that.”

You can reach Staff Columnist Kerry Benefield at 707-526-8671 or kerry.benefield@pressdemocrat.com. On Instagram @kerry.benefield.