Farmington Medical Supply saved by last minute business buy

FARMINGTON – It’s an unbelievable dream come true for the employees and the many customers of Farmington Medical Supply and Services.

Three full-time employees faced unemployment and the 5,000 annual customers were out of luck when the only medical supply store in Franklin County announced on Nov. 27 that after a century of service it was going out of business by Dec. 31. For many, the news was especially hard to take when considering the difficulties faced by the elderly and disabled customers who rely on the local store for their needs, along with the many heath care professionals who work at Franklin Memorial Hospital, the area’s nursing homes and doctors’ offices. Added to this, the news came on the heels of other local stores closing due to economic tough times.

But all that changed dramatically last week when Lance Macmaster, president of Mac-Lin Medical Supply, Inc. of Bangor and Waterville, called out of the blue to say his company would like “to come in and buy us,” said Farmington Medical Supply and Service co-manager Brenda Laviolette.

“It’s kind of exciting,” Laviolette said smiling today. An employee at the store for 39 years, she and two more employees will keep their jobs and, for the first time, will be receiving full health insurance coverage. “That’s something I’ve never had before,” she said, smiling some more. The store will remain at its current location at 407 Wilton Road and be renamed Mac-Lin Medical Supply.

“Western Maine deserves a medical equipment store that can provide the service it needs,” Macmaster said. “It’s too far for many of the customers to go down to Waterville.” His company, established in 1984, is currently at two locations, in the Bangor Mall as the Scrub Shop, on Park Street in Bangor and another on Kennedy Drive in Waterville.

“It’s a great fit,” Macmaster said of his fourth store. The store, which has traditionally carried wheelchairs, all kinds of safety equipment, medical uniforms and general supplies such as linens, compression stockings and joint braces, will continue to do so but will expand its stock to also include high tech rehabilitation services and equipment, such as especially made powered wheelchairs stair lifts, ramps and porch lifts.

Mac-Lin employees Mark Arnold and Sue Bates, who are certified in rehabilitation service, will be available on a rotational basis at the Farmington store, or for local home or health clinic visits to help assess each customer’s fit into the right equipment.

Laviolette had said last month the reason the store had to close wasn’t for lack of customers, but a complicated billing system required by Medicaid that was all they could do to keep up, that combined with a delayed payment schedule and other certification mandates, making it impossible for her store to continue doing business.

Macmaster said his stores all utilize a central billing software system that works much more efficiently, something the independent Farmington store couldn’t have afforded as a computer upgrade.

During the next two weeks, a new sign will go up, the store will be fully re-stocked and Laviolette will still here, ready to help her customers.

Find out more about Mac-Lin Medical Supply here. Also, visit the Scrub Shop here.
Read the first story on the store’s closing and long history in Farmington here.