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Medical Aids Lending Library provides free mobility equipment for the community

By Cali Lichter

Posted November 25, 2022

Walkers at the MALL

The MALL meets on the last Sunday of the month at the Monroe County Public Library. (Cali Lichter)

The Medical Aids Lending Library, or MALL, provides free mobility equipment for short term or long term use in the Bloomington area.

The M.A.L.L. opened in April in partnership with the Community Council on Accessibility, Anderson’s Medical, and the Monroe County Public Library. The library is where the MALL is in-person on the last Sunday of each month.

Smaller equipment like crutches and walkers are stored at the library, but larger power items like motorized wheelchairs are stored at Anderson's Medical. Even though the MALL is hosted at the Monroe County Public Library, no library card is necessary to use the service.

The idea was created by four women who use mobility aids. The “Wheelie Women,” as the group calls themselves, have become a support group for each other. 

“We have all this mobility equipment that we no longer need, and other people could use it, and how can we get it out of our houses and into other people's hands?” said MALL co-founder Lesley Davis.

READ MORE: Community leaders call on Marion County Hospital Corp. to drop Supreme Court case

Susan Seizer, another MALL co-founder, said the group also wanted to share their support network.

“Maybe they've just had surgery, or maybe they've just had a diagnosis of some kind of disease, and they're dealing with it,” Seizer said. “They haven't had the chance to try out any mobility aids or talk with anyone who uses them.”

A hope is that the increased accessibility to free mobility equipment encourages people that need the equipment to use it. 

“Using mobility aids will help you. People are often worried about how stigmatizing it is to be like using a wheelchair or a walker and how visible that is,” Seizer said. “But anything that helps you and your mobility and to keep active is actually much more worth it than the fear of how you'll look to others.”

As of the last MALL in-person meeting, 55 people had donated equipment and 35 people had requested equipment. Even though the Medical Aids Lending Library meets in person only once a month, requests and donations can be made at any time through their email or request form.

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