Donating Old CPAP

My AirSense 10 is arriving today. I have an S9 Elite that I've used for 5 1/2 years -- so it has a lot of hours on it.

Does anyone know of a place where I can donate this so someone less fortunate can use it? I would hate for someone with OSA not get treatment because of cost/insurance issues. (One might argue they couldn't get a sleep study without insurance, but perhaps they lost it.)

Most sleep disorder organizations will not take a machine that old and Good Will will not take medical devices. I would keep it as a spare/back-up machine.

southerndoc wrote: I would hate for someone with OSA not get treatment because of cost/insurance issues.

If that statement is sincere, then buy a new machine and accessories and donate it to someone who cannot afford a machine.

I think someone could benefit from that machine, but few charitable organizations are permitted to distribute medical equipment. Keeping the machine as a standby in case of a failure of your primary machine is something many of us do.

http://www.thecpapshop.com/blog/used-cp ... save-life/

It looks like your machine would be accepted by the American Sleep Apnea Association but not the Reggie White Foundation.

The third option looks interesting.

"""The Kibogora Initiative (via Secondwind CPAP)
Secondwind CPAP is a second-hand CPAP shop in Minnesota. They have a CPAP recycling program which in some cases involves paying you for your used CPAP equipment. In the case that they cannot make you an offer on your machine based on its condition, however, they work with several different groups to allow you to donate your equipment. One of the groups they work with is the ASAA, and the other is the Kibogora Initiative.
The Kibogora Initiative is an ongoing program in its 15th year which was originally set up to care for the children of Rwanda who lost their parents to genocide. Secondwind CPAP’s website says, “Since [it began], the program has grown, with those very children [it] helped, to broaden [its] scope to assist in the resolution of critical issues surrounding health care in the local communities. The focus of SecondwindCPAP is to provide donated CPAP devices to the Kibogora Project, for the treatment of Rwandan’s neonatal population.”
For questions relating to donating your CPAP equipment to the Kibogora Initiative, contact Mark Seager, Respiratory Therapist at mark@secondwindcpap.com.""

49er

I also recommend keeping it for a backup. Getting a rental should your primary machine need repair is expensive and often not available. Repairs can take anywhere from 1-2 days to 4-6 weeks depending on if the DME has onsite or sends it out.

You could try calling around locally to find out if any of the local sleep centers offer free equipment to those without any money. My brother's local DME is associated with our hospital and home health and takes donations. They service them (covered under a charity program) and give them to needy clients as identified by home health or hospital nurses, so that's another option.

Alternatively, offer for very low cost on Craigslist. Include the run hours. I'm sure there is someone locally desperate to find a low cost cpap.

As others have said... probably keep it as a backup.

SewTired wrote:
Alternatively, offer for very low cost on Craigslist. Include the run hours. I'm sure there is someone locally desperate to find a low cost cpap.

Somebody on craigslist might buy it for a backup if the price is super cheap... but shipping could be more than the machine is worth (if shipping is required).

This may be OT but this hurts me to read. My 30 year old son has a 2 year old Respironics System One Bi-Flex BiPap machine. It was expensive back then when he got it but is still brand new with perhaps 2 hours on it. He has never used it....I finally threatened to sell it or donate it so that "somebody who wants to live but can't afford a machine can make use of it". When I read on this board how some people are desperate and look for ways to get any kind of machine so they can get better, I cry when I think of this great machine going to waste.

Of course I won't sell it out from under him. I have tried EVERYTHING from simpering softness to tough love. Printed every article re: OSA, gotten CPAP using friends to come over and tell him their success stories. I am hoping that once I get my machine and therapy going, I can show him by example and renew another campaign to get him to please-for-the-love-of-God use it. His PCP and his therapist and psychiatrist and I tell him he's going to die so young. His AHI numbers were 151. He falls asleep at the table, falls asleep right after waking up, and in the middle of conversations.

I rummaged through his closet to find his equipment and found 2 brand new masks. I called his DME today and found he is eligible through insurance for another one now. (Could have also gotten one in June). The only pinprick bright side to this is that I can try these 2 masks without having to buy to try if my Mirage FX doesn't work out. (He has the Dreamwear and Swift FX pillows)

My son has Aspergers...the tactile sensitivities to the mask, plus extreme anxieties (being treated...but not enough to overcome mask/suffocation fear) means he hasn't ever even once used the machine.

I read the sticky above re: change and grief re: CPAP...Son has done all the denial and bargaining yet still outright refusal. I've even looked into a medical commitment scenario but they claim they can't MAKE him use the machine.

Does anyone know of anyone who was this totally resistant and yet somehow overcame it? What words to say? (I have said "tracheostomy"..) Any other actions to take?

DanceDiva26 wrote: Does anyone know of anyone who was this totally resistant and yet somehow overcame it?

No, not personally. I have a brother who refuses to even try beyond the one night I got him to try my machine just to see what happens. Never mind the O2 alarm going off all night long when he was in the hospital recovering from surgery...not one surgery but 3 different surgeries. The solution...just take the damn thing off the finger so he can sleep without the alarm. Duh....
He is just an idiot without the complicating factors of Aspergers.
The cold hard fact is we can't force someone to do something they don't want to at least try to do.

Consider Donation

If we cannot make an offer on your used CPAP or BIPAP because of the physical age, or number of hours on your machine, you might want to consider it for donation.

SecondwindCPAP is currently involved with two donation efforts:

In cooperation with the American Sleep Apnea Association, we work with clinics, hospitals, and doctor's offices across the country to help provide, through donated materials, equipment for those individuals who cannot afford to purchase this equipment at any price. If you are a clinician, physician, or social worker attempting to obtain this equipment for a patient in need, please contact us. If you are looking to donate equipment, please do so at http://www.donatedcpap.org.

As somebody already suggested, you might want to keep the old one around as a backup machine. You would not want to miss even one night with CPAP if your new machine fails.

If you do that, I recommend using it (or running it without using it) every so often. Of course, don't use the old one during your compliance period! They say to run an unused refrigerator or dishwasher periodically, so I would apply the same principle to CPAP.

If you still want to donate it, they generally do have drives when a disaster such as a hurricane or earthquake occurs. They will give the CPAP to somebody who lost one in the disaster.

Last I heard the CPAP failure rate was still at about fifty percent, even considering all the new machine features and substantially more comfortable and efficient masks. People with a lot fewer challenges than your son simply refuse to get with the therapy - we see it here at CPAPtalk nearly every week. Your son has a ton of unique challenges and it seems like you've done all you can do. About all I can say is don't beat yourself up, your health is important too.

D.H. wrote: If you still want to donate it, they generally do have drives when a disaster such as a hurricane or earthquake occurs. They will give the CPAP to somebody who lost one in the disaster.

Actually, they don't. Most states have a lot of rules for charities giving out medical equipment so other than say power chairs and hospital beds, they refuse all electronic medical equipment. To give away donated cpaps, they would have to have an RT on staff and THEY can only do settings based on a prescription provided by doc. So, if there were a generalized disaster, you are pretty much SOL if your machine is gone until/unless insurance replaces it.

You need to have a backup machine and keeping your old machine when it is replaced is an excellent way to do it. Machines fail or develop problems and it usually take weeks or even months to get the necessary approval and repairs or replacement. Zip that old machine up in its bag and stick it in the back of your closet. If you ever need it, you will be *so* glad that you did! Most experienced users here have a least one backup machine and many of us have multiple backups.

Your heart is in the right place, but you need to take care of yourself first. Also, people with a spare machine sometimes loan them out to friends who are waiting for a machine or waiting to be tested for sleep apnea, which can take months to get in to a sleep lab.

Yes, Pugsy, unfortunately, I know you cannot MAKE someone do something. I hope your brother can make a turn around sometime soon.
It's just hard (if not almost impossible) to give up trying, especially when it's your kid, no matter the age. I will point him to the Change and Success topics on this board.
I did not know that there is such a high usage failure rate. And yes, SirNoddinHead, I need to take care of myself. That old saw about putting on your oxygen mask first when they drop down is literally so true in this case. I hope son makes a turn around and the machine doesn't become just my backup machine.