Throughout her more than ten years of experience as an occupational therapy assistant in the Tampa Bay area, Kelli Casto experienced firsthand the high number of seniors that were forced to go without the necessary medical equipment to maintain independence at home and optimal health. This was caused by financial hardships, lack of availability, long wait lists, and denial of funding from Medicare. Lack of necessary medical equipment leads to a much higher risk of re admittance into hospitals and rehab centers. Frustrated by the healthcare system’s inefficiencies and lack of proper support for under served and low-income seniors, she founded Saving Our Seniors (“SOS” or the “Organization”) in 2016 in her one bedroom apartment.
Kelli began collecting gently used medical equipment in her apartment and within six months, the space could no longer accommodate the amount of collected equipment. Ms. Casto moved all the equipment to a garage, then a storage unit, and currently all equipment is housed in a donated 2,500 sq. ft. warehouse. In 2016, Saving our Seniors became a 501(c)(3) organization and to-date, has serviced up to 1,500 seniors in Tampa Bay and collected nearly 3,000 pieces of gently used medical equipment.