The Cardiac Action Group will be the main beneficiary of this year’s Skipton Swimarathon as they look to promote greater awareness of cardiac arrest and the charity’s island-wide Public Access Defibrillators (PAD).
The charity project is in desperate need of additional funding to meet the costs of promoting PAD sites and offering free training to the public. The charity run courses teaching people how to use the Automatic External Defibrillators (AED), administer CPR and how to deal with somebody suffering cardiac arrest. The bulk of this year’s proceeds from the Swimarathon will cover these costs for a further year.
With 40 PADs now installed around the Island and a further 10 in planning, it is hoped that with the backing of the Skipton Swimarathon many more lives can be saved.
Nick Guillemette, Chairman of the Skipton Swimarathon Committee, said: “This year the Skipton Swimarathon Organising Committee received 20 applications for various projects, all with their own merits, but the Cardiac Action Group’s plea for urgent support to enable them to continue this proven and well-documented life-saving service touched the hearts of all of us.
“We hope that this year everyone will support the Swimarathon and get behind this project. I’d like to think that for every pound that our swimmers raise, it could be saving someone’s life.”
Mike Froome, Community Resuscitation Development Officer, has been selected as the 2019 Swimarathon Ambassador. He has been working with the charity for the last two years, delivering training, raising awareness of cardiac arrest and monitoring the PAD sites to ensure they remain operational.
Mike said: “It is so important that as many islanders as possible are aware of the PAD sites on the Island and familiar with what to do should someone suffer a cardiac arrest. We have a free app available that can guide people to an AED, but we would encourage as many as possible to attend the training courses.
“We are so thankful that the Skipton Swimarathon have chosen to support our project as with full use of the equipment I’m sure more can be encouraged to restart a heart and save a life.”
Since the PAD project was set up in 2016 over 1,500 people have received training, with five AEDs having been used to resuscitate arrest victims. The Skipton Swimarathon will take place between 2 and 6 October, with registration open to the public from 1 July 2019 at swimarathon.org.
