The Kansas Division of Emergency Management has reached an agreement with Atchison Hospital and Clinics in Atchison, Kansas, for the temporary use of hospital equipment without cost that may be distributed to other medical facilities in need during the COVID-19 emergency.

The equipment comes from the former Horton Community Hospital and includes hospital beds, IV pump, defibrillators, stretchers, a blood warmer, medical carts, temperature monitoring systems and a pneumatic tourniquet, plus a variety of disposable supplies that includes catheters, tubing, oxygen masks, oxygen regulators, blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes, rubber gloves and boots, sterile water, sodium chloride bags and other supplies that are greatly needed in other medical facilities.

"We are extremely grateful to Atchison Hospital and Clinics for this generous loan of these much-needed medical resources," Angee Morgan, deputy director of KDEM, said. "This is a wonderful demonstration of public spirit by the Atchison Hospital and the Horton community as they reach out to help other Kansas communities get through this emergency."

The items were inventoried by a KDEM representative and the hospital prior to transport by the Kansas Department of Transportation and the Kansas National Guard. The equipment is only on loan and will be returned to the hospital within 45 days of a declaration ending the COVID-19 emergency, not to exceed Jan. 15, 2021. These resources will be distributed by KDEM on a greatest need basis.