Bryan Desloge: River of dreams

Provider Bryan Desloge has his finger in a lot of pies. He's president of Tallahassee, Fla.-based Desloge Home Oxygen & Medical, as well as president of the Florida Association of Counties and commissioner of Leon County. He recently spoke to HME News about Rivertrek, a 107-mile kayak trip he took to raise money for Apalachicola River monitoring, and the importance of paying his “social debt.”

HME News: How was Rivertrek 2012?

Bryan Desloge: It was a great trip. We spent five days—there were 11 of us who did it—and we raised almost $20,000 for River Keepers, which educates people about keeping the river healthy. The river is a huge economic driver for this part of the state—the seafood industry and the oyster industry—and right now, they've got a 30% unemployment rate. I'd like to think we're helping some of the people.

HME: Why did you feel it was important to make time for this trip?

Desloge: I'm a big believer in paying your social debt back or giving back. If you think about it, in the HME business, the majority of us, to some degree, are in the social service business. There are a lot of people who can't afford the services we provide. It's part of the cost of doing business. You have people who show up who fall between the cracks.

HME: So you provide HME to people in need?

Desloge: We've got a program here in town called We Care, where they rotate doctors in town and providers in town, helping people who don't have any kind of support. They try to rotate around—although I may be one of the few medical equipment providers in that rotation.