RETIRED SCIENTIST NEEDS PORTABLE OXYGEN SYSTEM

Scott M. is a retired microbiologist living on Social Security and a modest pension. In his late seventies, he lives alone very frugally in a modest house. Even though he has never smoked and has always pursued a healthful lifestyle, earlier this year he contracted an acute lung disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He cannot breathe without supplemental oxygen. At home he lives tethered to an oxygen concentrator which is not quite powerful enough for his needs, but if he walks very slowly, uses a chairlift to go up and down stairs, and avoids any sudden exertion the oxygen supply is adequate. He has a separate, portable oxygen supply that he uses when he has to go for respiratory therapy at a nearby medical facility. Unfortunately, the unit contains only enough oxygen to travel short distances before needing to be recharged. He can’t go shopping (a friend gets his groceries), and is trapped within a very small radius of his home. Medicare will only provide a portable unit that is much too flimsy for his needs. The portable oxygen system that he needs costs around $3,000, and Medicare will not cover it.

Because of his travel limitations, he has not been able to go to a post office to mail letters and bill payments. Instead, he has been limited to driving to a mailbox several blocks from his home to pay his bills. Several months ago, a thief somehow fished his letters out of the drop-box, altered the checks he had written, and wiped out his bank account. Even though it isn’t likely that he could have afforded a $3,000 oxygen supply before the theft, it is absolutely impossible for him to afford it now. He desperately needs help.