Well done, Brian!

I will be posting the Vitamix OCF badge code on here tomorrow, I hope that anyone that has a blog will add it and our Amazon badge to help OCF, to their blogs or web sites. Some of you are on "peggy" web sites besides here and spreading the word around that they can do good with their purchase would be really great help.

Excellent job old warrior!!!Semper-Fi Bob

Yay, great news!!!! I have been waiting to purchase a VitaMix and I am so glad I did. Love this idea of having them at the Walks, and making them available to OC patients for whom the cost is prohibitive.

Great job, Brian!

This is an exciting partnership with Vitamix! Thank you for all your hard work Brian! The OCF forum members dont always know how much hard work you do behind the scenes to help OC patients, caregivers and with research. There arent many who would work as hard as you do (many 14 hour days) without ever taking a paycheck or expecting anyone to thank them. Thank you for your dedication to all things OC!

How to make it fair for both medically needy while addressing income is not easy. I have a suggestion about how to screen lower income patients. Many OC patients are no longer able to work and are on SS disability years before their retirement time. Maybe anyone who receives SS of any type or public assistance would automatically qualify. For those who are not on SS, how about a percentage of the Federal Poverty Level Guidelines? I retired from old Ma Bell where there were programs to help lower income people pay their basic monthly phone bill if they were under certain monthly income levels. This should be something that could easily work in qualifying OC patients for their eligibility. To ensure this is available to help the most needy, I suggest the maximum income level of 200% (maybe even 253% so its not too stringent and would not give to medically needy) of the Federal Poverty Guideline for 2014. But at the same time, the lower the income the higher on the list the person would be placed.

Federal Poverty Guidelines for 2014

As far as making certain someone is an OC patient, that would be the easy part. We all go see so many doctors any one of those specialists can simply write a brief note saying something like "_____ has been under my care for oral cancer since ____". This way its not too personal but it would screen out non OC patients from attempting to take advantage of the program. Not all OC patients need to use something like the Vitamix on a regular basis, some are lucky enough to return to eating normally after their treatments. So maybe a note stating medical necessity of a blended, pureed diet would be enough to qualify someone?

Does anyone else have any input as to how best to address the income and diagnosis obstacles?

We bought a Vitamix during my treatment. They have a discount program in place for head and neck patients (DonFoo turned me onto this). I was able to purchase a refurbished model at about 50% (roughly $200) off fully guaranteed with a doctor's note. It's not just a blender, it's a "machine"... amazing!

Highly recommended!

Positive thoughts and prayers

I have been informed by Vitamix that that program for medical needs people has been discontinued. They are restructuring the program. If I thought someone who OCF desires to serve could get it that way I would have said so, and stayed out of the issue (which is still being negotiated since we wish to give some away). IF Vitamix is going to set us up as something other than an affiliate in the near future, (what I have been told now that we are registered with them) OCF will have a special needs program with prices off retail, as that is the market we desire to serve. This is also about making a little money selling a few machines for OCF, but it is a bigger idea. If I had to go out and compete head to head with the likes of Amazon, I would not have even looked into this. But that was never our desire. We need to replace their medical needs program, and we need to give some away at no charge to those who can prove both medical need and financial hardship.

So I just got off the phone with Vitamix. It is a HUGE company with lots of players, each who have a say in how a new idea gets set up, and OCF is definitely a new idea. They have a small program now in which they give a very limited number of units away for free. Qualifying for one of those refurbished units is hard, and it encompasses many other issues outside of oral cancer, all competing for the few machines that they have. That would be people that have strokes and other diseases that force people onto PEG tubes. The discounted units for people with a medical needs letter is definitely gone, and we (along with some other non profits) would be their replacement ideas for it.

We will have this idea up and running according to them before the Xmas season, and will begin our give away program some time in December. We will also have a retail program and a medical needs program. But they have to sign off on everything that we do, and that is going to take a little bit more time.

So there are no discounted units from Vitramix any longer for medical needs. If you were lucky enough to get in this program months ago, that was a great deal. But it is defiantly not part of their operation today.

The Vitamix program had two programs: the large discount option that is now discontinued; the other was and appears to remain intact is one that offered machines to very financially distressed patients. It required proof of Medicaid or SSI, along those lines and there was no certainty of receiving one; one applied, not ordered one.

For those who find the current Vitamix programs still too costly, check if Blentech still has a similar program as the discontinued one.

One other thought for OCF is has there been thought given to a loaner program as an alternative to giving units. Since most of us need liquified food for a limited time, maybe it would benefit more folks to borrow one for a few months and let OCF offer to others during their time of need.