Peter Egan Jr and his mother Pamela

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Please Do Your Part to Ensure Proper Healthcare Goes to Disabled, Special Needs People

The History

Easterseals helps ensure our most vulnerable brothers and sisters' healthcare needs are met. Let's do our best to help them.

During the four years that I owned a medical supply company, by happenstance a very famous former-athlete who tragically was diagnosed with ALS not long after becoming a local hero (by local I mean New Orleans & south Louisiana in general) decided to host a number of severely disabled guests for the Super Bowl, which was being played in New Orleans that year. One of the aforementioned guests required a specialty medical equipment item that my company had in-stock, and Easterseals contacted me about selling it to them. I wound up donating the item, and learned a lot about what Easterseals does when I went to deliver it to them (they were apparently intricately involved in the coordination of the travel and accommodation of the local sports figure's guests).

There are a lot of charitable organizations out there, but you'll find few if any more devoted to their cause and noble in their pursuits than Easterseals. I could tell just from my conversations with the employees at the organization I dealt with that this was not one of those charities that will eventually pop up in the news for all the wrong reasons (like someone misappropriating funds or misrepresenting what it is they do). I could tell in speaking with these ladies that their organization not only did noble work, but that the individual motives of the people who work there --- at least at the local branch in the Covington/Mandeville area --- are equally as noble, and nobody is in it for self gain.

It was made clear to me that the item the organization had the most frequent recurring need for was/is adult briefs (adult diapers). When I owned the medical supply business, I would routinely drop off 5-20 packs at a time when I was in town or passing through. I lived in another state at the time, and due to the weight of the products (they're heavier than you think), I couldn't afford to have them shipped. So every few months when I'd return to the North Shore area to visit my family I'd try my best to remember to bring along some of what was requested of me. The amount and size depended on what I had on-hand. Another way of saying that is that whatever I had enough of in-stock to donate and still have a couple of packs in the event an order came through so as to not disappoint or alienate customers.

The Present: Why this Campaign? Why Now?

While I no longer own a medical supply company, having closed it permanently to resume working full-time for my family's local home health agency and hospice company, EGAN Home Health Care (http://eganhealthcare.com/) and EGAN Hospice (http://eganhealthcare.com/2017/01/hospice-care/), I would like to continue to help Easterseals as much as I can. If I can't provide them with products they desperately need, perhaps I can help raise some money with which they can purchase the items themselves.

I'll get the donations started. Let's see how much my friends can add merely by matching my meager contribution (if you are able to give more and wish to do so, by all means do so). I work for my family business, which benefits from my skill-set at a "family discount", so I'm a bit limited in what I can do at any given moment. I'll be making more than one donation, although probably not more than one in any given pay cycle.

The bottom line is give what you can. I put my name to this organization being worthy of it. I put my own reputation out there in claiming that if you donate to Easterseals, you won't later regret it. If everyone of my Facebook friends, Twitter followers, Pinterest followers and LinkedIn connections gave just $1, it would bring in over $5,000 to organization that is well worthy and most likely could really use it.

I am willing to put my name and reputation on the line in endorsing this organization, and in claiming that if you generously give any amount of money to them, that I can assure you that you won't later regret it because of anything nefarious. This is a good group run by good people, and if you trust me at all, that much you can believe.

About Peter: http://about.me/peter_egan