Butcher blazes trail with life-saving device
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A TRAIL-blazing butcher’s shop has fitted a life-saving defibrillator – days before the meat industry in Scotland announced plans to raise cash to do the same.
Cockburn George & Son on Dingwall’s Mill Street are ahead of the game after being approached by the Skye-based charity Lucky2BHere, which fundraises for the equipment.
After speaking to the charity Fraser MacGregor, who co-owns the shop with fellow butcher Paul McKay, agreed to hang the unit outside the West End shop.
He said: "As soon as we were asked we said ‘yes, of course, this is an ideal location’.
"It will be on the wall 24 hours a day seven-days-a-week."
Lucky2BeHere trainer Andrew Smith, who is part of a small volunteer team in Dingwall, was at the forefront of the move and was delighted to see the butchers shop agree to the move so swiftly.
He said: "We had a bit of good fortune where a bank decided to fund £6000 to pay for four defibrillators in the Dingwall area. I spoke to Cockburns and they came forward and agreed that we could have the kit fitted.
"Cockburns was the first business that we approached because we were looking for somewhere in the West End.
"The timing was just great because literally the day after they agreed to do it a nationwide campaign was launched for butchers to do the same thing – so Cockburns have spearheaded things."
He added: "This equipment is so valuable.
"Somebody that collapses outside of hospital has a six per cent chance of survival but when you have one of these kits available it can go up to around 70 per cent."
The bank’s generous donation is also expected to pay for kits to be fitted in Inverness, Thurso and Kirkwall.
Lucky2BeHere has a strong network of volunteer defibrillator trainers across the Highlands and Islands.
It has fundraised for around 200 units so far and Dingwall now has one at the primary school, outside Castle Street Church of Scotland and Highland Council’s Ross House building in High Street.
There are other kits in various places around Ross-shire including Contin Village Stores.
And another unit is due to be fitted outside Alness Pharmacy within the next month.
A nationwide campaign called "Butchers at the Heart of the Community" is now encouraging butchers to display collection tins in their shop in an effort to raise money for a local defibrillator.
More than 30 Scottish butchers have signed up to the scheme so far, with hopes that further shops will follow suit in the future.
