IBEW 26 retirees’ medical equipment program helps families heal, stay connected

Joe Pittore had excellent insurance because he was a journeyman wireman and member of IBEW Local 26 in Washington. He also had access to Medicare. Yet, there were times when the Pittores had needs come up that had to be dealt with quickly and additional help was required, especially when it came to medical equipment. Such was the case when Joe went into hospice care.
A program administered by Local 26’s Retired Members Club moved a hospital bed and transport chair into the family home that day. The program dates back to at least the 1950s. Susan Flashman, the retiree club’s recording secretary who voluntarily does much of the program’s day-to-day work, remembers it being run out of a closet at Local 26’s old hall in the District of Columbia, but it really took off when the local moved to a new hall and training center in suburban Lanham, MD., in 2006.
Read more on the IBEW website. photo: Susan Flashman, with fellow retiree Rusty Griffith at a party for the local’s Retired Members Club.