GRAND CHUTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Outagamie County’s newest public health vending machine is officially up and running.
Beginning this week, a variety of health and safety tools are available inside the vending machine at Grand Chute Fire Station #2, located at 3900 W. Spencer Street. All items are free and can be vended anonymously; all you have to do is provide a zip code.
“This public health vending machine is the third in [Outagamie County] but the first that is outdoors. It’s available 24/7,” said Kelly Hanink, the Grand Chute Fire Department’s assistant chief of community risk reduction.
The other two machines are located at the Grand Chute Police Department and the Outagamie County Government Center.
“Both of those are only available during business hours — Monday through Friday, not on weekends. But this one, being outdoors, right outside the fire station here, on a heavily traveled street with even bike traffic and walkers, and also a bus line, is an ideal location for it,” Hanink said.
The vending machine itself, as well as the Narcan and fentanyl test strips inside, were funded by a grant from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
GCFD also added more items to help create a stronger and healthier community for everyone. Those items include gun locks, medication organization kits, basic first aid kits, smoke alarms and COVID-19 tests.
“We’re trying to provide a variety of things that might address different situations so that people stay safe and healthy and alive,” Hanink said.
We would like to fill it with more things, but we are not using taxpayer dollars to fund the items that are in this, and so we don’t have funds to fill every slot yet. So we are looking for additional grant funding, donations of things that the community could share with us, to share out to the community.
According to Outagamie County Public Health, as of Monday evening, its vending machine at the government center has given out nearly 3,000 items since late March 2024.
Public health vending machines have been popping up all across Northeast Wisconsin throughout the last year, including in Winnebago, Waupaca and Manitowoc counties.
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