Posted on October 16th, 2008 by admin

At-home care certainly goes beyond the medicine cabinet. Simple medical equipment, such as hospital beds and wheelchairs, can be extremely valuable tools to aid you in caring for an ill person at home. This equipment is a great money-saver as well. Anything that enables a sick person to remain at home rather than in an institution saves you an incredible amount of money—and there are ways to save money on the equipment itself.

• Borrow medical equipment when possible. Most home health aids can be borrowed from various community organizations. Check the yellow pages under “Home Health Care” or “Visiting Nurse Association.” If no such services are available in your area, you may be able to rent the required equipment from a local pharmacy, but before renting, check to see if your insurance policy will cover its purchase. If you need the equipment for a long period of time, you will probably have to purchase it.
• Save by owning medical self-care equipment. Simple devices such as thermometers, blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes, and otoscopes can help you care for yourself and make informed choices concerning your need for a doctor’s help.
• Check out the equipment’s reliability before purchasing. Every piece of equipment you buy should come with literature that describes its reliability within a certain range. For instance, thermometers may be reliable within a range of one degree Fahrenheit, and some pieces of equipment will be more reliable than others. The accompanying literature should also describe the period of time the equipment can be expected to maintain this degree of reliability without servicing.
• Find out where servicing is available. Equipment such as blood pressure cuffs must be periodically serviced to maintain reliability. Make sure that you know how, where, and how often a piece of equipment must be serviced before you purchase it. You will save money if the equipment you buy can be serviced locally.
• Call the Better Business Bureau. For many health items—for example, hearing aids—it is wise to see if your local bureau has any complaints on file against the supplier from whom you are thinking of purchasing the equipment.
• Check for sales. With health and medical equipment, just as with most other consumer items, suppliers often offer sales.
• Only purchase equipment with a written warranty. Manufacturers of high-quality equipment always offer a warranty with their products.

Tags: health and medical equipment, home health aids, hospital beds, medical sellf-care equipment, Simple medical equipment, wheelchairs