As a Home Health Nurse, my job is to take care of people who are sent home from the hospital, but still need care.  Many do not have families. Due to bureacracy, sometimes they need tools which are not provided by the current medical establishment. Occasionally they need supplies which are covered by their insurance, but those supplies are going to arrive in a week, or three days, and they need them today.  When this happens, I buy the supplies for them.  
 
On a Friday night at 6pm, I got a call "Can you go see a heart transplant patient on South La Brea tonight?" Sure.  I called and she said, "Yes, thank you. We'll be happy to see you at 8pm.  Also, we went to the CVS to get the blood glucometer and the number the doctor's office had given us was wrong, so we didn't get the device."  A heart transplant patient takes Prograf, which prevents rejection of the new heart, but also raises the glucose in the blood.  Without a glucometer, there is no way to know how much insulin to take.  So I bought a kit about $60.  

New story: An 80 year old man who lives in a cluttered apartment in west LA with a schizophrenic partner who he takes care of had no way to get to the doctor for an essential procedure at UCLA every two weeks. Although Access exists for this problem, it takes months to set up.

Your donations cover some of the costs of these type of gaps in the system. Understandably, this is very local, but at least I know that the clients I am assigned have good care.

Thank you.