Main Street Nashville
NASHVILLE WEATHER
physicians-mutual-dental-insurance-banners

Donation drive aims to ease ‘critical’ crutch shortage





The Williamson Medical Center Foundation is collecting donated crutches.Screenshot

The Williamson Medical Center Foundation is collecting donated crutches.Screenshot

Supply chain issues have forced local hospitals to reach out to the community for help with their supply of crutches. Williamson Medical Center Foundation, which supports the Bone and Joint Institute of Tennessee and Williamson Medical Center, has launched a “Crutch it Forward” event.

“It’s urgent right now,” said Darren Harris, CEO of the Bone and Joint Institute. “When we started this campaign to have patients donate, we had less than a dozen crutches on hand. Typically in a normal week, we’re dispensing 50 pairs of crutches a week.”

The campaign kicked off Nov. 8 and is running through Nov. 23.

The supply chain issues have caused an aluminum shortage, which is slowing production of crutches and walkers.

“Typically we don’t do this, but we’ve asked patients who have a friend or family member to borrow crutches,” Harris said. “It’s already affected our ability to give out crutches to patients, but it was manageable. We are at the critical point now, and we’re anticipating it to get worse through the rest of the year.”

Medical workers hope they will start seeing improvement in the supply chain by mid-December, but they are preparing if things do not improve. The campaign may be extended if necessary.

“We’re anticipating that the boxes and shipments coming over on cargo ships will get here mid-December to January and then it’s a distribution issue after that,” Harris said. “We’ll be reevaluating on Nov. 23 and extending the campaign if those shipments do not come.”

The community has come forward so far with dozens of pairs of donated crutches.

“The community has rallied around us,” Harris said. “I’d say we’ve had close to 50 pairs donated already. Not all of those are totally usable. We can’t give away crutches when we don’t feel comfortable with the safety of them. Some we’re using for parts. Even if they don’t look the greatest, they’re usable and functional and safe, and that’s what we need right now.”

The used crutches will not be charged to patients. The Bone and Joint Institute is refurbishing pairs and donating them to others.

“This is not an attempt to get donations and profit off of that. These are strictly a pass-through to support fellow community members,” Harris said.

Williamson Medical Center Foundation has 12 drop-off locations in Franklin, Nolensville, Brentwood, Spring Hill, Thompson’s Station and Fairview.

“We want to appreciate the community members helping us at these drop-off locations,” Harris said. “We want to highlight that Williamson Medical Center Foundation owned this and made it a community event for more than just the Bone and Joint Institute. Our affiliation with Williamson Medical Center has helped in that regard as well.”

People interested in donating their used crutches may find a drop-off location at williamsonmedicalcenter.org/crutch-it-forward.

Leave a Reply