Published: Wednesday, 30th October 2019
Over recent months visitors to the town will have spotted the yellow defibrillator boxes at various locations in King’s Lynn town centre.
The last of these was installed a week ago at the bus station and, crucially, all six are now registered with the ambulance service. Five of the six life-saving devices have been paid for by Discover King’s Lynn, the Business Improvement District for the town centre, with the sixth kindly funded by King’s Lynn and District Round Table No 54.
The borough council, along with Ward Gethin Archer and Kenneth Bush Solicitors, are hosting defibrillators on their properties.
The machines have already been put to good use and have been used in over 12 different incidents since their installation started around 12 months ago. In addition, 3 training courses have been provided for town centre workers to give them more confidence to use a defibrillator.
The drive behind the project has come from John Harrison, owner of BJ Models & DIY Centre on Norfolk Street and a BID Board member.
“Research by the British Heart Foundation shows that if someone has a heart attack out of hospital and has access to a defibrillator and CPR it can double their chance of survival. It just made sense to get defibs put around the town in different, easy to reach locations,” says John. “The ambulance service advised us where to site the machines so that most parts so of the town centre are within easy access of one. With all the events on over the summer and at Christmas, increasing the number of visitors to the town, it made good sense, and whilst BID is here with some funding it was a good opportunity,” he added.
“King’s Lynn and District Round Table No 54 aim to support local good causes and this was a perfect opportunity to give back to the community for their amazing support at our fund-raising events, we jumped at the chance to support the purchase and installation of the lifesaving defibrillator at the Tuesday Market Place, “says Amrinder Chana of RT54.
The defibrillators are all located on external walls so are accessible 24/7, they are located at the following places;
- Kenneth Bush Solicitors, New Conduit Street
- Youngsters World, Norfolk Street
- Ward Gethin Archer, Tuesday Market Place
- Above the water fountain at the bus station, on the wall of the public toilets
- Alongside the car park ticket machine at Saturday Market Place
- On the pontoon at South Quay, opposite Marriot’s
Importantly, the defibrillators are all registered with the ambulance service and The Circuit, a scheme run by British Heart Foundation to support community owned defibrillators. This means that if you ring 999 to ask for help in the case of a cardiac arrest, the operator will be able to tell you where the nearest defibrillator is located and provide you with a code to open the box and access the machine. Once open, the defibrillator gives clear, step-by-step instructions for use, no training is required.
The machines will be monitored and maintained by John Harrison for Discover King’s Lynn, John has volunteered to regularly check that they are ready to use and that the pads are up to date.
There is an on-going cost of £30 to replace a pair of pads after a single use, Discover King’s Lynn would be grateful for donations towards the replacement of these pads.