Elderly woman gifted $4000 chair by total stranger thanks to Salem Home Care Toowoomba

Nola Deuble was suffering from severe back pain, when a generous donation by a total stranger changed her outlook.

TAKE A SEAT: Salem Home Care recipient Nola Deuble just received a donation for an electric lift chair from a fellow client to help ease the pain of multiple fractures in her back.

An elderly Toowoomba woman who lost her husband late last year has donated his expensive electric chair to a total stranger with severe back pain.

Nola Deuble, who has multiple fractures in her back, was overwhelmed after she received the chair from Jan Tracey Smith, whose husband Neil passed away in December.

The two women are both recipients of home-based services by Salem Home Care, which helped deliver the chair.

“I’d just returned from time with my family following my husband’s passing last December and was chatting to the Salem Home Care team during one of their regular visits,” Mrs Smith said.

“All of his equipment was still in the house, which I simply didn’t need, and I wanted to donate this to other package clients who did.

The chair was almost new, and the team explained how much Nola needed an electric chair, so I’m so happy we were able to find a deserving new home for it.”

Mrs Deuble said she was nearly in tears when she found out about the donation.

“It’s extremely generous of Jan to donate Neil’s electric chair and I’m very grateful for her donation,” she said.

“I’ve got severe back pain, so the chair will make a huge difference in my life.

The staff not only recognised how much the chair would help with my back injury, but went out of their way to make sure it was delivered straight to my front door.”

Lutheran Services’ Salem Home Care manager Ann Hooper said the generous donation was an example of how the organisation tried to individualise the experience for each client.