Growth & Grace

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU n b Studio's original program. The following program is underwritten by Crawford management group and Chris glow and does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 Jaz and Moore the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education even

Music 0:18
better than I was the last time, baby. We back and

we back and we back and we back and we back and we back. And I was the last

do either than I was the last time. Hey,

Leaha Crawford 0:44
hey, hey, hey, happy, happy Saturday Las Vegas. This is Leah Crawford. I am your one of the hosts of growth and grace. I hope everyone is having an exciting Saturday morning. I want to send a special shout out though, Mom, Happy Happy birthday. Today is May 31 I you know, this is not only your birthday, but my company's anniversary as well. But mom, happy birthday. Happy birthday. I miss you. I love you, and I'm going to send you this recording so that you can hear me say happy birthday to you on the air today, we have a special guest in the studio with us. He was on, oh God, we talked about it, I guess maybe a year and a half ago. Yeah, November 2023 November 2023 so I have Ryan Schmucker here with me from care chest. The reason why I wanted you to come back is because the resources that you offer, you can never get the word out, because you never know when the need is absolutely you know, someone might not have been in need in 2023, 2025, things are different, 100% okay, and we talked about this, Ryan, you are a southern Nevadan, from Southern Nevada, right? Okay, born and raised Vegas

Ryan Schmucker 1:53
local. Yeah. I've been here my whole life. I was born outside of town, but I came here really young,

Leaha Crawford 1:58
really young. All right, all right. Graduate from Silverado High School. Hey, hey, right? Care chest. Tell us about care chest. Where did care chest start?

Ryan Schmucker 2:06
Yeah, care chest was started in 1990 by three pharmacists who noticed a large need in the community for people who couldn't afford their durable medical equipment. So their durable medical equipment, that means like a walker, wheelchair, cane, different medical supplies. So they looked around and they they realized that a lot of people might have a piece of equipment laying around. So they started in taking generally used herbal medical equipment and redistributing out to people in need. Okay, yeah, I like it. Yeah, absolutely. Since then, our programming and our geographic region serves has expanded. So now we serve the entire state of Nevada, every county in Nevada. We have 45 monthly outreach locations we go to, okay? And we have two facilities, one in Reno, one in Las Vegas,

Leaha Crawford 2:56
one in Reno, and one in Las Vegas, and the one is in Las Vegas. Where is it located?

Ryan Schmucker 3:00
Yeah, so our physical address is 3080, West Post Road, 3080, West Post Road, Las Vegas, Nevada. 89118, if you're putting it into your GPS, you need to put that West Post Road in, because it might take you to East post East

Leaha Crawford 3:17
Post Road is not where you want. Yeah, exactly. Let me say this, if you're not by the Raider stadium, that means you are in the

Ryan Schmucker 3:23
wrong. Be by the radio stadium right, just south of the stadium, right?

Leaha Crawford 3:27
So your position there is the lanthropy manager.

Ryan Schmucker 3:32
Yeah, exactly. What does that mean? Yeah. So it's my role to help the public sort of engage their philanthropic muscle with care chest. So I do a lot of the fundraising for the organization in Southern Nevada. So if anybody ever wants to support an organization helping people recapture their independence in their daily life, we'd love to have your support. Okay,

Leaha Crawford 3:53
all right, so when we talk about the need in the community, so if someone you started off with the wheelchairs, the walkers, the canes, yeah. Do you guys do home improvements? So,

Ryan Schmucker 4:10
yes, in a way. So care chest, yeah, has this program called the independent living program. Now, when we say home improvements, that's not really what we do, but some people do get it from this program. Essentially, this program is designed to help people live independently in the home they currently live in, so avoid having to move from one place to another. So what they do is they work with our independent living specialists, and they talk about what their barriers are to living comfortably and living independently in their home. Common barriers we run into is bathing, accessing the front door, accessing a bedroom, cooking. So what we have done to help people with those barriers is we help them make the home modifications they need, or buy the assistive technology they need to live. Successfully in their home. So examples of that is we have built one kid we serve right now. He lives with cerebral palsy. Okay? So we patted his whole bedroom so his parents can know that he's safe in his bedroom. Got it as well as remodeled his bathroom so he has a roll in shower and grab bars around the in the room so he can be stable and safe in his bathroom and bathing Wow. Yeah, we do a lot of bathroom remodels, just through that program wheelchair ramps. We do a lot of door widening, kitchen adjustments, things that help people get where they need to be successfully. Got

Leaha Crawford 5:37
it. Got it all right. So with the but you have to. If someone has that need, it's not automatic. I'm sure there's a process.

Ryan Schmucker 5:46
So all of our program, so that program is unique, all of our programming, we do have an application process that particular pro program, we do have an intake call, so if somebody wants to see if they can access that program, I always tell people, let us tell you, you don't qualify for the program. Don't disqualify disqualify yourself. Let us chat with you, know your scenario and see what's going on. So for that particular program, if you want to access it, 8686206, 5242 you're gonna want to talk to Gabby or Anna Bella, and you're gonna want to say, Hey, I'd like to schedule an intake call for the independent living program.

Leaha Crawford 6:24
So it's an intake call for the independent living program. Yep, and it's a process. But I love that you said, because sometimes, as people, yeah, we disqualify ourselves. Yeah, we come in our mind, oh, no, I'm not gonna call. I just don't know. And what you're saying is, get the information. Yeah, find out. First inquire exactly, 866-206-5242, again, 866-206-5242, now can they go online and actually complete any information online? So yeah,

Ryan Schmucker 6:59
we have a lot of additional program on top of that, independent living program. So we talked about the durable medical equipment. So we talked about walkers, wheelchairs, canes, shower chairs, bath chairs, toilet seat risers, pretty much anything you can think of durable medical equipment we help out with. We've had the little tank climber that climbs upstairs, that you might see firefighters use to help people climb up the stairs. We have bariatric equipment, which is really hard to find in town, so that's equipment that has a 400 plus weight capacity. Um, we have a lot of different supplies and things. On top of that, we have one time use supplies, our big one time use supplies a lot of people come to us for is incontinence protection products.

Leaha Crawford 7:43
We I like the way you said that, because I was going to say something Yeah, I was gonna call it something else, but I love this incontinence protection, yeah,

Ryan Schmucker 7:50
we have a lot of supplies. We We have catheters, ostomy, colostomy supplies, and on top of that, we have a lot of pull ups, diapers, bed baths, whatever somebody might need to

Leaha Crawford 8:04
now, is there a process for you to qualify for the Yeah, so, okay, so

Ryan Schmucker 8:08
our qualification is we have an income qualification, and that is at or below 138% the federal poverty level. So what that looks like for a one person household is a monthly income of $1,763 now, before anybody goes, Oh, I'm above that, we recognize that that's not always the best way to qualify somebody for our programming, especially when they have a lot of medical situations going on. So if you don't meet that first qualification, our team does a second qualification where they spend you down. We balance your income versus expenses. So again, I want to reiterate, don't disqualify yourself just because you heard that number. If you have a need. Oftentimes, we can work with you and qualify you for the programming. I

Leaha Crawford 8:55
got it. I got it. So what I'm hearing is, you know, and I just want to say I wanted to bring you on the show, just to put the information out there, because, again, getting the word out there, letting people know what services are available, because you You never know, because it might not be a need today. May not be a need today, but just having the information, because there could be a need in the future. We

Ryan Schmucker 9:21
had one woman who came in recently that we served, where she had an ER visit, and at the ER, they diagnosed her with type two diabetes, and unfortunately, she struggles to afford her diabetic supplies. It's not something she's been planning for, and we That's another one of our programs. We give out diabetic supplies. So she actually left the emergency room came to our office and was able to walk away with diabetic supplies that day.

Leaha Crawford 9:44
I love it, yeah, because diabetes is another one. It's it can be expensive. Well,

Ryan Schmucker 9:50
11% of the adult population is diagnosed with diabetes. One in five Nevadans, they believe, are living with diabetes and are on. Diagnosed, and so we're seeing it as a huge, huge diabetes is the fastest growing disease in the United States. Nevada is ahead of the rest of the US in terms of people diagnosed with diabetes. It's a huge, huge need in our community. It's our largest diagnosis. So what do

Leaha Crawford 10:18
they um, so what kind of supplies do? Yeah for your diabetic. So

Ryan Schmucker 10:22
we have, we give out test strips, lancets, which are guiders, pen needles, insulin syringes, but not the insulin because we're not pharmacists and just and blood pressure monitors, any sort of testing supplies they might need an additional testing supplies. Yeah, basically, yeah. We do give out the syringes that people might use for their insulin on I will say that people who might need help with their insulin and other prescription needs. We do have a Prescription Assistance Program. We actually work with partner pharmacy, yep, 986 pharmacy currently here in Southern Nevada, and a bunch of pharmacies in Northern Nevada village, pharmacies and other where we help people pay up to $300 a year for their prescription medication. So they can sign up for our programming online. They send over their prescription to our pharmacy partner, and then from there, instead of them getting billed, they'll actually send the bill to care chest will sign off, approving paying the bill if it's within the $300 and that's $300 a year. So if your co pay is 10 bucks a month, we'll pay that 10 bucks a month until 300 runs out. 300 Yeah, and we'll, basically, we'll swipe the card for you, so you don't have to swipe the

Leaha Crawford 11:42
card. I love it. I love it. So again, let me give you the contact information for care. Chest, 866-206-5242, again, 866-206-5242, and it's care chest.org, and what I love, what Ryan said the most, is, if you have a need, and we're like, I said, we're giving you the information, if you have a need, don't disqualify yourself, yeah, let them know what the need is, and you may have some other needs as well, yeah, but you, I mean, just know that this is a resource here in southern even in Northern Nevada, a recess here, a resource here in Nevada. So if you're in Pahrump, yep, if you're in NA, I mean, Nye County, Mineral County, whatever,

Ryan Schmucker 12:26
yeah, we go to Tonopah monthly, we go to Pahrump monthly, we go to mesquite monthly, we go to Logan Dale monthly, we go to Laughlin monthly. We hit all these Caliente monthly, wow. We are hitting all these places because we recognize that there's a need. There's a need. Yeah, we go, we have a monthly outreach in Henderson and monthly outreach at um tree line in Charleston area, a monthly outreach in North Las Vegas, because we recognize that transportation is a barrier we face with the people we serve. Okay, so we want our programming to be out in your community and meet you where you're at, and especially rural folks like Tonopah, we have one woman we serve in tonoma Who told us, without us, she wouldn't be able to get the colostomy supplies she needs monthly. So we want to help as many people as possible and let us see if we can work with you. We are always receptive to try and hear you out. So trying to hear you out

Leaha Crawford 13:23
again, let me give the number 866-206-5242, again. 866-206-5242,

and the website is care chest.org, care chest.org, let me get that number again. 866-206-5242, now the office is open every day from what time

Ryan Schmucker 13:54
it's Monday through Friday, 830 to 830 to five. What we always tell people is, if you're picking up a lot of supplies, you can come in and drop off anytime and come pick up supplies. We do have hospital beds in the back and so, oh, wow. Some people pick up hospital beds. You can pick it up whenever you need but we just need you to apply and do your application beforehand, or come in and apply. Be ready to apply. Three documents we need with our application that we asked for is a ID, literally, a Nevada one. If it's not valid, we'll work with you proof of income. Okay? So that could be a bank statement, that can be a pay stub, that could be a social security letter, that could be whatever you have that's most easy for you, and then we ask for proof of interest. Now we do serve people who might be on House, who might not have income. It's okay if you don't have these documents. We just need to know that, and we need to know why. So we're willing to really work with you. One thing I appreciate I've worked with care chess for two years, is that we. We want to hear your story, and we're willing to hear you out and figure out how we can serve you at all times we don't get caught up in the red tape we want to or,

Leaha Crawford 15:08
you know, you don't make you know, as people will say, Okay, well, you make too much money. Well, no, let's figure this out. Because apparently, if you're contacting us, there's

Ryan Schmucker 15:14
a need. Yeah, absolutely. And we take, we take on more expenses than most people. I tell people, when we look at expenses, the only thing we don't look at is, maybe not your monthly Netflix subscription, the clothes you pay for monthly. You know, if you had a major surgery this year, let's take that cost and divide it by 12 and include that in your monthly expenses. Let's How much are you really paying for groceries a month? How much are you paying for other supplies. How much is your rent, your gas, like when you really look at your expenses? Why? If you're being left with nothing at the end of the month, we're going to help you because

Leaha Crawford 15:51
we really want you, because we want, we want. I love it because I'm reading your shirt and it says, renewing hope, nurturing independence, yeah. And while we're nurturing in the mean, we want you to be self sufficient. And sometimes the barrier is I can't get I know. I can't pay for the syringes. Yeah, so I can't take my insulin Exactly.

Ryan Schmucker 16:12
Oh, how many people, if they were able to test this many times a day, could avoid that hospital visit? Could avoid that just by being able to test, just by being able to test how many people we had. One gentleman we served. He had been outside for six months before we gave him a wheelchair and a Hoyer lift. Hoyer lift, it's a fancy lift that goes around your chest and lifts you up. We have people we give power wheelchairs and power scooters out all the time.

Leaha Crawford 16:37
With those power wheelchairs, man, you have to fill it. Your

Ryan Schmucker 16:39
doctor has to fill out an assessment for you to get it from us. We, yeah,

Leaha Crawford 16:44
no, no. True story, so we were at a convention, and, you know, they give out the wheelchair. Yeah, they dangerous. Man, yeah, they are. They dangerous because they move, and if you don't know how to work it and you're going backwards, yeah, yeah.

Ryan Schmucker 16:53
But at the same time as we had a woman when we served, she realized that the function could go up and down, the seat could lift higher and lower. And she she broke down to tears, and she said, I can do the dishes. I can help my daughter with a troll in the house, simply because the chair can go up and down. Yeah, okay. And I mean, another thing we give out a lot is supplemental medical nutrition drinks. So ensure your P, sure your net pro. A case of net Pro on Amazon cost 9265 right now, $92.65

Leaha Crawford 17:25
how much? How many 24 Oh, wow. 24 drinks.

Ryan Schmucker 17:28
Oh, wow. Okay. Our goal at care chest is to take away that choice people have to make between their groceries or their gas or their daily needs and their medical supplies and equipment. We want them to know that they have a consistent resource where they can come from medical equipment and supplies and they don't have to take away from their other needs in their daily life, right? And so

Leaha Crawford 17:52
you guys have been around, I guess, since 1990 so 35 years. Five years. We've

Ryan Schmucker 17:56
been in Southern Nevada about five years. Okay? We the Southern Nevada community is really starting to learn about us. If you work with a home health care agency, if you work with a hospital, if you work with a primary care doctor, if you work with a social worker, I wouldn't be surprised if they haven't already heard about us, and hey, I've heard about this resource. Do you think they can help me and we will most likely work with your doctor's office to be able to help you and get you what you need. We love working with doctors because that makes sure that some of these complete capture needs are met.

Leaha Crawford 18:33
Okay, well, here you're listening to Leah Crawford, growth and grace. I am sitting here with Ryan Schmucker. We are going over. We're just talking about care chest as a resource in this community. And we just went over some things diabetes. If you have diabetes, you need some of the diabetic supplies. And he was even going through, I know, to get the the the monitors, the insulin, well, not the insulin, but the syringes, all the supplies. You know, this is an option. The information is 866-206-5242, again, 866-206-5242, and he's talking about, you know, just simple measurement. If you were able to measure your blood pressure every day, check your diabetes every day, if you're able to do these simple things, might change your habits, because you can remember today what you did yesterday. I don't know, about a month from now, like, why is my diet? Why? Why is my numbers? Why? Why are my numbers different? Yep, why are my numbers different? All right, so you have any, I mean, any other big things outside. We talked about the diabetes being a diagnosis. We talked about

Ryan Schmucker 19:35
these nutrition, Prescription Assistance,

Leaha Crawford 19:40
durable medicals, medical supplies, yep,

Ryan Schmucker 19:43
yep. And then I think, I think we've hit, I think we've talked about, one thing I haven't talked about is we do have a program called care loans. Now, a lot of people go, Oh, why does a nonprofit do? Loans, and that's a fair question. What we found was a lot of people had needs outside of our programming that they were struggling to afford, and then they go out and they take a loan that would be not the best scenario for them. These people, often that we serve, are living in an unhealthy economic cycle of their life, or they're living it. And so when they get a loan, it's oftentimes a high interest rate. It's kind of, you know, it hurts more, but they have to take it because it's something they need. So our care Loan Program is an in house loan. We can loan up to $15,000 at a 1% interest rate. We can do an additional $35,000 loan, so we can loan up to a total of $50,000 that rate is based on Bank of America prime rates. What I will say is that that rate is typically lower than you could get with a 720 credit score at a bank.

Leaha Crawford 21:02
So why? So talk to me about care loans. Talking about care loans, what? What is care about? What our care

Ryan Schmucker 21:07
loans? So care loans are specifically for a need with a disability. We have had people use it for a variety of different things. Oftentimes it's to do something beyond our programming or in conjunction with independent living program, maybe they want to take a step up. And what they're getting for they need help purchasing a modified vehicle. So some people have used it for training service animals. Some people have used it for, like I said, purchasing modified vehicles. Some people have used it because they might not qualify for our independent living program, or they might only qualify for a certain help and they need an additional piece of cash to finish out the project. So what that is, is it's to help people basically meet their needs that's beyond their program or they want. It's hard to call it a luxury item. A lot of people in Las Vegas have pools. Doesn't necessarily mean you're living in great or not. Some people have used it for pool lifts, for their pools. Okay, it's really one gentleman used it because he wanted an ATV ride with his brother, so he bought a handicap accessible ATV. I think I said training service animals. That's a big one. But basically, service animals have to be trained, yeah, basically. And it's expensive, and people, really, people, don't always have the capital in their bank account to afford it. Yeah, I don't know what it is off the top my head, but it's more than 1000 bucks. It's pretty expensive to train a service animal. Oh, wow, yeah. But we, yeah, we, we help people, basically try and meet these needs with the care loans to kind of cover the gaps in our programming. My so we have a lot of people who use it. We have found it helps people avoid those predatory loans that really eat at their income. Like I said, with all of our programming, our goal is to be a fully comprehensive program. We don't want you to have to come from us and get a piece of durable medical equipment and say, well, now I have to go to the store and buy my incontinence supplies. That's what we do. In common supplies, diabetes and incontinence typically line up. So when somebody gets their diabetic supplies, typically they need incontinence protection supplies. We have a lot of people who have these large needs, and we want to be fully encapsulating for it. Got it?

Leaha Crawford 23:39
Got it? No, I just Okay, so I love it. So to add on to all of the things that you do, yeah, the care loans. So again, 866-206-5242, again, 866-206-5242,

any, I mean, so basically, anything medical, yeah, anything medical,

Ryan Schmucker 24:02
yeah, anything medical. You know what? At care chest, we have a no closed door policy, so even if we're not the resource, we'll try and figure out a resource for you. We'll do our dead level best. I mean, we are really well connected with the communities we serve, and we are more than willing to help somebody who calls us figure out where they need to go next. I appreciate

Leaha Crawford 24:22
that. All right, so you've been listening to growth and grace. First, I want to thank you, Ryan for coming back on. I want to bring you back on again because I because I think we need to have this conversation regularly anytime, because you never know when a need is going to hit and could be tomorrow could be tomorrow could be grandma's moving into town. Next week, grandma's moving in. Hey, grandma's moving into town next week, and we got to have stuff ready for when grandma gets here. All right. Well, you've been listening to growth and grace. I am Leah Crawford, thank you for sharing your Saturday morning with me, Ryan. Thank you for accepting our invitation to come on show. All right. Remember, growth is something is. Happens. Grace is what you give yourself. Take care, be blessed, and have an amazing weekend and again, happy birthday, mom. Look forward to seeing you soon. Bye, thank you. Bye.