Answering the call

REHOBOTH BEACH, Del.--With the opening of CPS Medical Equipment's first retail store, people in the coastal community of Rehoboth Beach are discovering they need not look any further than the local mall for their medical equipment needs. CPS co-owner Andy Herrick said the Rehoboth Mall store opened May 21 and carries patient aid products, bathroom safety items, scooters, wheelchairs and standard disposable supplies. The company not only sells and rents the equipment in the 400-square-foot store, but also offers home installations and maintenance services. Herrick said customers are “thrilled” with the new store because there is nothing like it in the area. After seeing a doctor, patients often had to drive an hour away to find the products they needed, he said. “What brought us into the mall is the mall clients,” Herrick said. “We were looking for a place that was centrally located between the two beach communities. We looked at the mall and we noticed there were quite a few people that were elderly that were walking around the mall in the morning.” Herrick, a former hospital administrator, founded a medical equipment supply company for correctional facilities roughly 15 years ago. Business partner Bob Moyer and contractor Bill Quirk are co-owners, and the company employs a part-time staff of three. Herrick said customers are primarily paying out of pocket when they come into the store, but the company is in the process of establishing a relationship with Medicare. “Word is spreading very fast that we're here,” Herrick said. “The need is here. People just come in to see us.”