A therapist must complete the ‘Equipment Loan Request Form’ and send it directly to the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) for any new equipment loans or trial requests. From there, MCFD will review, process and will send the approved form to HME. Once HME has the form, we will contact the therapist and family on whether suitable equipment is available in the pool.
Yes, we encourage family or therapist to drop off their CMEDS equipment to one of our three HME locations. You may also drop off at your nearest authorized dealer but will need to fill out a ‘Equipment Return Form’ for shipping purposes.
If equipment is needed to be picked up, a therapist or family can complete the CMEDS Equipment Return Form (on our website) and send to HME if in Lower mainland and Vancouver Island or your nearest out of town dealer if outside those areas. HME (or other dealer) will then schedule pickup with the family.
Yes, families or therapists can come to HME to pick up equipment as long as there is an approved loan request form from the MCFD which has been processed by HME, we are happy to accommodate this.
Yes, therapists may book appointments with Charlotte at HME to come in and view equipment at the North Vancouver location. Please email CMEDSTech@hmebc.com to schedule.
A repair of equipment is typically a service request to repair equipment to return it to a usable and safe condition. A modification of equipment is a permanent change to equipment. An example of this would be changing the seat to floor height (STF) (if more parts are required), changing parts on chair such as armrests, legrests etc. . For modifications, this may be quoted by any MSA dealer and sent to At Home Program or other funder to fund.
You may fill in the CMEDS repair form (therapist or family) and send to HME to process if in the lower HME mainland or Vancouver Island. For clients outside this area, go to your nearest dealer.
No, a return must be completed for the client who no longer needs the said equipment. And to ensure fairness across all therapists and families across BC, the normal process of submitting an Equipment Loan Request Form must be submitted to the MCFD for approval for the client before receiving the equipment.
YES, CMEDS equipment can be delivered, returned and repaired at client’s school, home, therapist’s facility or local authorized dealer for outside Lower mainland and Vancouver Island. Please note this on the forms when submitting.
For equipment loans, once it is approved and sent to HME to process, it varies as it depends on the availability of said equipment and time for it to be cleaned, repaired, and tested. For repairs, typically only a few days depending on the availability of parts and technicians. For returns, also typically a few days depending on the routes/schedule, which is why we encourage dropping off equipment at one of our 3 HME locations if possible since it may be faster.
If they have an ongoing need for the equipment they can keep the equipment and they would (privately or the adult program would) cover repairs. We request that once they are done using it, if it could still be recycled to the program if possible.
The CMEDS equipment listing on the website is maintained and updated on a regular basis. As a reminder, the process for all CMEDS loans is to request a piece of equipment (even if it is not on the listing) as the CMEDS inventory moves actively each day (we receive on a weekly basis 10-15 items, and send out another 10-20 items).
In order to return equipment to CMEDS program, families or therapists may return the equipment to any of the HME locations in lower mainland/Vancouver Island, or to any out of town dealer by dropping the equipment off. If a therapist or family wants equipment picked up, the CMEDS return form is to be completed (just showing address/equipment returned) and submitted to CMEDS team and we will process. This can be done by any family member or therapist. The CMEDS return form is available on website.
Support workers being able to submit the forms was a question/issue raised earlier and the response was it needed to be a therapist or family member.
Currently, only the loan request form is being used. A letter of justification is only being requested when we review a quote to be funded because there is no differentiation between a trial and a long term loan through CMEDS.
Due to the extremely high volume of equipment arriving and leaving program on daily basis, you must send in a request for equipment even if it is not on the website as the equipment may have arrived.
The process is always being reviewed and updated based on client and therapist feedback. Currently there are no new changes, but the website will reflect the latest forms and updates from CMEDS.
The use of post-operative equipment to serve acute needs was a service that the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) provided to children who required it. This was separate from their contract with MCFD to provide the loan cupboard for At Home Program equipment. CRC has told the ministry that they will continue to provide this service if they have available equipment to serve the child’s needs. The CMEDS program exists to serve the long-term equipment needs of children on the At Home Program. Post-operative equipment that is received back into the program will be available for short-term loan, if it is not available MCFD will not be purchasing new post–operative equipment.
CMEDS is only for clients within BC. If you are outside BC and need to return equipment, you must arrange for delivery on your own, CMEDS will not courier freight or pick up charges for returns of equipment outside BC. CMEDS will not repair equipment outside BC.
