A new electric high-low bed is coming thanks to donors

"I want to thank donors very much for their support. We are very, very happy with it!" Marjatta Knoppers is Social Assistance Manager at Red Cross-Leopolds Bridge. "We could really use the donations, because soon we will need a new electric high-low bed."

"The bed we have our eye on is a really good one and looks nice, not like a typical hospital bed. That's nice when you have it in your living room."

 "Our rental service for medical equipment is running well. We rent beds, wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, walkers. And we also have children's wheelchairs and children's crutches. Not every department has those. We find that people come to us from the area for those."

Marjatta likes to add, "By the way, with the donations, donors also help themselves. If they need something once, it is available from us."

Beautiful work by active volunteers

The rental service for medical equipment in Leopold is available 24 hours a day. "That's really a difference from the health insurance fund's rental service for medical equipment . There you can only borrow something during office hours. Unless that one has a pharmacy on call that you can go to. But after 5 p.m., on weekends and evenings, people usually come to us. They can literally call us day or night if they need something. In our small group of active volunteers, everyone takes turns on phone duty."

"We all think this is beautiful work. When I lend out a wheelchair and see those people so happy because they've been helped, I think: that's what we do it for. People here also say that we make them happy twice. Once when they come to borrow the equipment and a second time when they come to return it, because that also means healing."

Curious about what your support can do in the neighborhood? 

Read more stories here of what local chapters were able to accomplish thanks to financial support from their residents.