The Greene County Medical Center recently purchased needed medical equipment for county departments.

The medical center’s disaster preparedness team received a grant through the Homeland Security and Iowa Department of Public Health’s Centers for Disaster Operations to purchase automatic external defibrillators earlier this month.

The grant was for $6,335 and three AED’s were purchased for the Greene County Sheriff’s office, the County Conservation Department and for the Greene County Fair Board.

Public Health Director Becky Wolf says that by giving these AED’s to different departments, that increases the awareness for County officials to be prepared due to people’s increased rate of heart disease in rural areas.