Vending machines that dispense healthcare items installed across Omaha [Video]

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Items that come out of a vending machine aren’t usually the healthiest. But that’s not true of some new machines being installed around Omaha.

“These are things that are going to save people’s lives,” said Chris Bauer, the chief development officer with Siena Francis House.

The Siena Francis House is one of five locations where the Douglas County Health Department installed health vending machines. In them: STI test kits, COVID test kits, condoms, lubricant, pregnancy tests, tampons, pads, wound care kits, emergency contraceptive, and fentanyl test strips.

If an item needs to be returned to the health department, like an STI test kit, people return it to the vending machine and the health department will get it the next day.

And it’s all completely free. The machine doesn’t ask for a name; it does track demographic data like zip code, age, race, ethnicity, and gender.

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