Village aiming to have lifesaver on every street

An East Yorkshire village could become the first in the country to have a trained lifesaver on every street.

St John Ambulance said it wanted to teach first aid to enough volunteers to cover Bempton, near Bridlington, in what it believed would be a national first.

The project aims to address the need to act fast in a health emergency situation.

Jacky Bowes, 62, from Humber and East Riding St John Ambulance, said: “The desire is to support and educate, particularly rural and isolated communities, where it’s trickier for the ambulance service to get to them at speed.”

Ms Bowes joined the organisation two years ago, having been the county’s High Sheriff.

She said she had been “blown away” by what the charity was doing to develop people in the area and provide them with a life skill.

The volunteers were enthusiastic for Bempton to be a part of the project due to its “community spirit” through the Covid-19 pandemic, she said.

The first training event took place last week and welcomed “an enthusiastic group of individuals”, said Ms Bowes.

The project focuses on five ways to safe a life on every street in the village, whether that is learning CPR and using a defibrillator, dealing with choking or someone who is not breathing, heart attack and strokes or severe bleeding.

Ms Bowes said the charity had about 250 volunteers locally but not all of them were frontline first-aiders.

She said the statistics for surviving a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital were “quite alarming”, with one in 10 surviving unless there was a bystander with first-aid skills and the confidence to deploy them.

The next training event, which will take place on 23 September, is already full, but the charity is asking people who are interested in learning the life-saving skill to get in touch.