The safety of children and visitors at York play centre, Creepy Crawlies, will be boosted by the presence of a defibrillator thanks to the fundraising efforts of staff and volunteers - including a donation of £600 from mutual healthcare provider, benenden health.

The defibrillator, which costs over £1,000, provides life-saving support for a range of conditions such as cardiac arrest, choking, heart attacks and strokes. Creepy Crawlies decided to start fundraising for the machine after a member of their team’s 11 year old child saved his dad’s life by giving CPR until the ambulance arrived.

Janice Dunphy, Managing Director at Creepy Crawlies said: “We know that acting quickly when someone goes into cardiac arrest is vitally important. It could mean the difference between life and death and having a defibrillator on site with trained staff will give added reassurance to our visitors that we are providing a fun, yet safe environment for children to play in.

“We just needed the final £600 to be able to purchase the machine and we were so thrilled when benenden health offered to give us this amount. We’d like to thank everyone, including Apsect Turf, Black Diamond Health & Fitness and benenden health who have helped us to fundraise and purchase this life-saving machine as well as training our staff on how to use it.”

Bel Dowson, Provider Relationship Manager at benenden health said: “When we heard that Creepy Crawlies were raising funds to purchase a defibrillator we were really keen to help out with such a worthy cause. Having a defibrillator on site is really important for an organisation like Creepy Crawlies and with more defibrillators in public places, it can help to provide crucial life-saving support.”