At CHME, parallel tracks converge in ‘crazy coincidence’ 

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Provider Andrew Trammell didn’t know all that much about ALS when he met Dave Lloyd at a racing event in 2019 to raise money for the incurable disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, but he has since helped to raise more than $25,000 for Lloyd’s nonprofit, Racing for ALS, and forged a lifechanging friendship. 

“I was admiring their race car, and I did notice they had Racing for ALS on their car and trailer,” said Trammell, president and CEO of Carolinas Home Medical Equipment, of meeting Dave Lloyd and his brother, Scott. “I later found out that Dave was the one they were racing for to find a cure. That hit me hard. Over time, I’ve watched his decline in real time. It’s ugly to see what the disease does, and I wanted to do whatever I could to help battle for the cure.” 

In November, Racing for ALS surprised Trammell when it made Carolinas Home Medical Equipment an honorary sponsor, prominently displaying the provider’s name and logo on its 2019 Hendrick Motorsports Track Attack Camaro ZL1. 

“They pulled up for a photo shoot and totally surprised me – it was just supposed to be a small decal on a quarter panel,” he said. 

Coincidentally, CHME was looking to diversify into new revenue streams as it transitioned out of the hospice market. While vents and other product categories were “saturated,” the provider saw an opportunity in the rapidly consolidating complex rehab market, a space it had previously said it would never get into, says Trammell. 

“CRT ended up being a natural extension of our business because of the relationships we already have established with referral sources,” he said. “We started Oct. 1 and it’s been incredible and growing at an exponential rate very quickly.” 

It’s also an opportunity to help people like Dave Lloyd get the equipment they need to live their lives, said Trammell. 

“It’s a crazy coincidence of how it all came together and crossed paths,” he said. 

Racing for ALS has launched a new fundraising initiative to provide stipends to families living with ALS for home modifications and complex medical equipment. It gave out its first checks in December, says Lloyd. 

“I went from walking and driving to a power chair in the past year,” he said. “I began to realize how important and how costly home modifications and adaptive technology is to support someone like me to have any kind of normal life. Between the pandemic and people being out of work and the continued expense of ALS survival there was an immediate need.”