Fire Safety Sticker Pilot Scheme Targets Over 65s
02 February 2010
A PILOT scheme has been launched at a pharmacy in Cambridge, aimed at targeting fire safety advice to residents over the age of 65.
Firefighters from Cambridge Fire Station have teamed up with staff at Kay's Chemists Ltd in Wulfstan Court, Cambridge to launch a Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS) sticker, which is used to seal the pharmacy bags.
A total of 3,000 stickers have been printed and staff at the pharmacy now use them to seal all bags given out to customers. As 80 to 85 per cent of these customers are over the age of 65, the pharmacy was the ideal service to choose for the pilot scheme.
Wayne Swales, Crew Manager at Cambridge Fire Station said: "This was a really simple idea that we came up with to target older people, who are a really important section of the public to us. We know that people over the age of 65 are more at risk of having a fire in their home, and are also less likely to escape should a fire occur.
"It's a shocking fact that 10 of the 15 people who have lost their lives in accidental home fires in Cambridgeshire between April 2004 and October 2009 were over the age of 65."
The stickers, which began being distributed by the pharmacy on January 17, feature the CFRS logo and feature the words:
Are you 65 or over? Then you are more at risk of fire. For a FREE fire safety check on your home and FREE smoke alarm if needed call the Fire Service on 01480 444666 quoting PL9.
Wayne said: "Thanks to the involvement of all staff at Kay's Pharmacy Ltd, we are able to pilot this idea to see if it works and if it's successful we hope to roll the scheme out to other pharmacies in the Cambridgeshire area.
"We are calling for all residents in this age group to contact us to book a FREE Home Fire Safety Check. This is where a member of the fire service will pre-arrange a visit to your home, talk through fire safety advice and fit free smoke alarms where needed. All you need to do is phone 01480 444666 and quote code PL9. It really is that simple."
Carolyn Verma, Manager at Kay's Pharmacy Ltd, said: "We are a local community pharmacy which really cares for its customers.
"We are really impressed by this pilot scheme launched by Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service and want to help in whatever way we can.
"We supply about 150 pharmacy bags every day to people over the age of 65, and possibly even more in January as this is a really busy month for us. We hope that the scheme is successful and that other pharmacies realise the added benefits that they can bring their customers by working with public services."
