March 3, 2023
Devices 4 the Disabled’s founding director, Bob Shea, said he knows firsthand how much a new wheelchair can change someone’s life.
Too often, people can’t access wheelchairs, he said. That’s why seven years ago, he created D4D to offer durable medical equipment for free.
“We give people their life back,” Shea said.
Devices 4 the Disabled is a Brighton Park-based nonprofit that provides durable medical equipment such as wheelchairs, walkers and hospital beds to people with disabilities in the Chicago area for free, according to Shea. Seven years ago, D4D started operations in its first location, Shea said. Now, it is continuing work and even expanding internationally.
After his seven-month-long recovery from Guillain-Barré syndrome, Shea said he volunteered at Chicago-based hospice organization Rainbow Hospice, where he realized how often DME that could change someone’s life is thrown out.
“There’s all of this medical equipment, and instead of just throwing it out, they could make a legacy,” Shea said.
He said he decided to launch D4D after seeing how important DME was to close friend and co-founder Ed Kane, who has since passed, after his ALS diagnosis.
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Robbie O’Shea, D4D’s director of clinical services, described Shea as “easy to work with” and “genuine.”
“He’s tenacious, too,” O’Shea said. “He goes after a lead, and he’s like, ‘I’m not going to give up,’ and I’m like, ‘OK, you go.’”
O’Shea works with Shea to ensure clients get the equipment best suited for their needs.
Although Shea is proud of the success D4D has seen, he believes anyone can start an initiative like his.
“The only thing different about me is I got a neurological disease,” Shea said. “I’m very ordinary, but this indicates what amazing things an ordinary person is capable of doing.”
