By Kristen LaRose, Chief Nursing Officer
At A Glance
- After discharge, families of medically complex children often run into issues securing critical medical equipment because of insurance issues, high costs, and children outgrowing items.
- Two therapists from Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital have been volunteering with local organization STL Help to support the nonprofit in organizing and lending used pediatric medical equipment to families in need.
- An example of Ranken Jordan’s innovative practices, the partnership has helped reduce stress for caregivers by getting them the right equipment to ensure children–and their families–thrive at home after the hospital.
At Ranken Jordan, we pride ourselves on being innovators in pediatric healthcare. Sometimes innovation is as simple as connecting with a partner to make the impossible possible for our patients and their families.
While we love spending time with our patients when they’re here, our main goal is to make sure they get home and have what they need to thrive after the hospital. Two Ranken Jordan therapists exemplify this mission through their volunteer work with STL Help, a local organization that lends health equipment to those who need it.
The Challenges of Medical Equipment
We treat children with complex medical conditions, a population that requires a lot of medical equipment.
We have everything a child could ever need within our walls. But for children who are discharged or our outpatients who only visit for appointments, getting the equipment our patients need for their home can be a huge challenge.
Parents and caregivers often run into issues like insurance not covering everything they need to help their kids live their best lives or there can be a delay in equipment arriving.
This problem is particularly hard for children because kids are always growing. While an adult with complex medical issues can have the same equipment for years, a young child needs new sizes as they grow.
If a family needs a piece of equipment immediately, paying for it out of pocket is often a huge barrier since some items can cost thousands of dollars.
Giving Back to STL Help
We’ve had a long partnership with local nonprofit STL Help but two years ago, one of our physical therapists, Christina Rejko, volunteered to provide additional education to the team about common pieces of pediatric health equipment.
She later recruited other Ranken Jordan therapists to join her, including occupational therapist Catie Costello. Both Christina and Catie now volunteer regularly to look through equipment that’s been donated, ensure it’s in good condition and help the organization categorize it to make sure the right equipment is getting to the right kids.
Meeting a Need for Families
I cannot overstate the importance of having an organization like STL Help in our area. Securing what a child needs to be discharged by the time they need it can sometimes seem impossible.
“It can often take anywhere from four weeks to three months or longer for an order to be approved by insurance,” Catie said. “There are other pieces for kids, like a bath chair or a stander, that insurance doesn’t always cover. Working with STL Help to find these items for our patients’ families makes their lives easier, even if it’s just to bridge a gap until the equipment they ordered through insurance arrives.”
But insurance often only covers the equipment required for discharge and not other items we feel are essential for kids. While a wheelchair may be required, a stander or gait trainer is not, even though they are critical to help young children stand or walk.
Our mission at Ranken Jordan is to give medically complex children their best lives. Many of our patients need more than one piece of equipment so when they go home, we want them to have everything that they need and ensure they have it immediately.
How You Can Help
If you have used medical equipment, please come to the equipment drive we are hosting with STL Help from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, May 9, 2026, at Ranken Jordan.
STL Help serves the greater St. Louis area, both for adult and pediatric needs. In addition to helping local families, it keeps plastic and metal out of landfills: STL Help diverted 196 tons of medical equipment from landfills in 2025.
Having a child in the hospital is stressful for families so organizations like STL Help make something like medical equipment one less thing they have to worry about. We are grateful to organizations like them for not only improving the lives of our patients but their families, too.
