Family Health Care Amigos, The Lending Shed and Purple Elephant Thrift Shoppe
325-327 W. McKeown Ave., Patagonia
Office hours by appointment. Call 520-681-6000.
Thrift shop hours: Thursday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.
New chapters are being written in the story of Family Health Care Amigos, but the mission and the message remain the same.
The nonprofit operates The Lending Shed, which provides adult incontinence supplies for residents of Santa Cruz and Cochise counties and loans durable medical equipment for short-term use, all at no charge.
“Our mission is, if you have a need for our services, we will work as quickly as we can to meet your needs,” said Linda Huffstetler-Dearing, president emerita whose 10-year term as president of the Board of Directors expired in August.
“Maybe there’s a whole bunch of people who don’t know what we do, that our services are free. We’re here, we care. If you have a problem, we don’t say ‘we’re sorry, we don’t do that.’”
Huffstetler-Dearing, 75, of Patagonia suffers from low vision and will be dialing back on many of her day-to-day administrative duties, but she will be staying on the board for a year and focusing her attention on coordinating the organization’s volunteer efforts in Santa Cruz County.
Lana Tompkins-Stutzman of Sierra Vista has taken over as president and will be forming a new board that will be primarily based in Cochise County, where the organization has its largest share of clients. Meanwhile, Huffstetler-Dearing is soliciting members for an advisory board to ensure that the organization remains connected to the needs of its Santa Cruz County clientele.
Nina Smith, 86, of Patagonia is on a fixed income and has been a grateful Lending Shed client for many years.
“With prices of everything going up so much, the Lending Shed and their incontinence products, it really makes a difference,” she said while lunching at the Patagonia Senior Center. “I can use that money to buy better food. I’m well aware of what it would cost.”
Locals may have already noticed that FH Amigos opened an expanded administrative office in the building it owns on McKeown Avenue, in the former Long Realty offices. The administrative office had shared space with The Lending Shed and the Purple Elephant Thrift Shoppe, which sells donated materials to help pay for some of the organization’s expenses.
“It became critically important to me that I have a private space for people to come, we can do an assessment and figure out what they need,” Huffstetler-Dearing said. “I want people to have an attractive, safe place where they can talk about what’s going on with them and their families.”
Huffstetler-Dearing said when The Lending Shed began, it served five clients, all in Patagonia. It now has auxiliary hubs in Huachuca City and Douglas and last month served 199 clients, a total that more than doubled in the past year.
“We went from spending about $18,000 to $42,500 last year on incontinence supplies,” she said.
The Lending Shed provides clients with up to 60 pullups and 30 bladder pads a month. Huffstetler-Dearing said out-of-pocket costs for those products, which are not covered by Medicare or Medicaid, might typically run $200-$400 a month.
“There’s a huge need out there for this service,” she said. “There’s no other healthcare organization in southern Arizona that gives a monthly supply to people who sign up.
“It’s not about diapers, it’s about dignity. Our clients tell us things like I now have the money to buy better quality food. I now have the money to pay medical co-pays. I now am able to get out of my house.”
The organization’s operational expenses for the past year were $126,000, covered primarily through grants and donations. Much of the medical equipment it loans out – such as wheelchairs, walkers, canes, hospital beds – are reconditioned items that were no longer in use and stored in homes and garages.
“We ask people to bring it back, we’ll recondition it, and we’ll get it back in the community,” Huffstetler-Dearing said. “It’s one of the things that makes us cost-effective.”
Rhonda Brew of Patagonia was in dire need of that equipment after suffering a stroke five years ago, leaving her left side paralyzed and unable to walk or move her arm.
“My son had to take care of me for a little while when I got out of the hospital, and (the Lending Shed) loaned us a hospital bed, bedside table, bedside commode, everything I needed.
“I could not possibly have recovered without them.”
As Huffstetler-Dearing begins to step back from her duties, she’s hoping to attract volunteers from all parts of the county to help continue the organization’s mission by serving on the advisory committee or helping with distribution and other tasks.
“The first time, when you hand out those products to people who haven’t any, it’s like Christmas morning to them,” she said. “It means so much, the expression on their faces. It’s addictive.”