By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Christmas is past, and the Barton County Commission met for the final time in 2022 Wednesday morning. But the season of sharing was not quite over. Justin Phillips with Magellan Midstream Partners, LP was in attendance to provide the commission with a check for the purchase of an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) to be used by the Barton County Sheriff's Office.
"Somewhere in the county, at one point in time when we started this effort, we had an employee's family member that was in a rural area, and could have been maybe saved with an AED," Phillips said. "Since then, we've said, 'Hey, let's try to get these out.' We have the ability. We try to work with our first responders as much as possible."
The county currently has several AEDs, including at the Barton County Courthouse, the health department, and with the road and bridge department. Based on a need, Phillips said Magellan picked the sheriff's office for its donation.
"We wanted to get one more of these out into your community because they provide a tremendous life-saving tool for first responders to save lives," he said.
Tulsa-based Magellan Midstream Partners, LP is a partnership that transports, stores, and distributes refined petroleum products and crude oil. The Great Bend terminal helps provide oil and gas to local gas stations and farms.