An urgent survey was carried out in late 2022, following a meeting of Skipton Town Council to immediately review the status of working defibrillators in Skipton’s town centre.
Local residents and visitors can now be further assured that two new Community Public Access Defibrillators (CPAD) have now gone live outside the popular and busy fish and chip restaurants Bizzie Lizzie’s on Skipton’s Swadford Street and Skipton’s High Street Car Park.
Chip Chip Hooray!
Bizzie Lizzie’s Natalie Davison has been working closely with Brian Firth, whose charity Public Access Defibrillators UK (see ‘Information’ below) have successfully installed TWO new life-saving CPAD devices – outside their Swadford Street restaurant as well as on the wall of their High Street Car Park restaurant.
Following the collapse of a gentleman outside the restaurant who needed CPR, Bizzie Lizzie’s identified that, due to the number of shops and high visitor footfall, their busy Swadford Street location would be suitable for an additional CPAD site in town.
Calling on local Skipton businesses to help support this important campaign, multiple donors including Bizzie Lizzie’s have also funded replacement batteries for both the Main High Street Car Park and the Bus Station defibrillators in Skipton.
A family business with family values
Bizzie Lizzie’s owner Katie Davison says:
“We continue to feel very blessed by the way people from Skipton and beyond have taken Bizzie Lizzie’s to their hearts. Through the installation of the Swadford Street defibrillator, we have found a way of supporting our wonderful community and future generations where we can.”
Public Access Defibrillators UK are a non-profit campaign run by volunteers. The campaign receives no funding from either the Yorkshire Ambulance Service or Skipton Council. Working with local communities seeking to have Community Public Access Defibrillators installed within their area.
Regular monitoring and checks of the devices are essential to ensure they are ‘rescue ready’. Volunteer ‘guardians’ provide their continuing support without charge. Ongoing thanks must be given to defibrillator guardians, Laura Rowe, Phil Probst and Gemma Jennings as well as local electricians Bobby Bachra and Tom Kendall from Horsforth who kindly installed both devices free of charge.
Helping save lives
Providing the user with clear audio instructions, Community Public Access Defibrillators are accessible to members of the public, 24 hours a day, to use in the case of a life-threatening emergency. Studies have shown that a shock given within three to five minutes can produce survival rates between 50-70%.
Founder of Public Access Defibrillators UK Brian Firth says:
“We are delighted to be working with Bizzie Lizzie’s who have offered to be the host for our latest CPAD at their Swadford Street Fish Restaurant.
Two Skipton CPADs were recently out of service due to having flat batteries, but thanks to the Skipton community, funds for new batteries were raised and the devices were put back into service before Christmas. On Boxing Day, a person went into cardiac arrest close to the Main Car Park CPAD. The defibrillator was deployed and saved the patient’s life. Sixteen hours later another person went into cardiac arrest near the Bus Station and the CPAD installed there saved that person as well. We would like to thank all the individuals and local businesses for funding the replacement batteries, including Bizzie Lizzie’s.”
The Bizzie Lizzie’s team have also completed their CAPD training session with volunteer trainer Glyn Jones from Public Access Defibrillators UK.
