Center provides medical equipment to Howard residents
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The center repurposes free donated medical and therapeutic equipment for others to use and helps place and install it in the community.
Updates to the new Loan Closet include increasing open hours to 40 per week, an increase in facility space from 3,000 to 7,500 square feet, and the ability to accept and distribute pediatric and high-tech assistive devices.
This is the third location for the Loan Closet, which opened in 2004 off Route 108 in Columbia and was moved to the Long Reach Village Center in 2016.
“We’ve seen the use and need for these services grow significantly in the past three years, with more than 12,000 residents seeking assistive devices, saving families nearly $5 million,” County Executive Calvin Ball said in a statement. “With this new space there is also an expansion of services and accessibility, allowing us to continue working toward a community that improves the quality of life for residents of all ages and abilities.”
According to an American Community Survey from 2017, 13% of the population in Howard County is 65 or older. By 2030, one in five Howard County residents will be 65 or older.
In the past three-and-a-half years, more than 12,000 residents have taken out 21,000 pieces of equipment at the Loan Closet, according to the county Department of Community Resources and Services.
According to a 2016 report from the Maryland Department of Aging, of the nearly 5.8 million people in Maryland in 2015, 18.35% were ages 60 or older. This percentage is expected to increase to 25.4% of Maryland’s projected population of 6.7 million by 2030.
The Loan Closet is run by the Howard County Office on Aging and Independence and nonprofits Equipment Connections for Children, Maryland Technology Assistance Program and Rebuilding Together.
