As part the company’s commitment to ensure safety for both its employees and customers, Zippy’s–the big chain of restaurants throughout Hawaii that sells large quantities of wonderful chili, plate lunches, burgers, saimin and a nearly endless array of sweets–has installed heart defibrillators in 10 of its locations. Sal Nissan, a spokesperson for HeartSine, the defibrillator’s manufacturer, confirmed that the Zippy’s on Maui is one of the 10 locations receiving the devices.
“Ensuring that all of our employees and customers are safe while at our restaurant locations is a high priority for us, so placing an AED in several of our stores is just one more step we can take to ensure their safety,” said Paul Yokota, President of FCH Enterprises (Zippy’s parent company), in an Aug. 6 press release from HeartSine. “Our strong commitment to the safety of our communities made the decision to install HeartSine AEDs at our locations an easy one.”
According to HeartSine, the device–known as “HeartSine samaritan PAD 350P”–was designed for use in public areas. It can work on adults or children, is lightweight and apparently easy to use. It provides “easy to follow visual and audio prompts to guide the rescuer from pad application to shock delivery,” according to the company. Eventually, Zippy’s plans to install the devices in all of its restaurants.
“With 84% of Sudden Cardiac Arrests occurring outside of a healthcare setting, placing AEDs in restaurants like Zippy’s provides much needed AED access to the local communities, as well as those inside the restaurants,” said HeartSine Sales Manager Brian Duffield in the Aug. 6 press release. “We commend Paul and the restaurant chain for taking this important forward-thinking step.”
According to the restaurant chain’s website, Zippy’s is currently running a special promotion with Pepsi: “Come in to Zippy’s in August for an entry form, and you can get a medium Pepsi for only 99 cents with the purchase of any regular plate lunch,” states the website. The company will choose two winners–the first gets $5,000 while the “consolation prize” is 12 cases (432 cans) of Pepsi (which Zippy’s calls “a year’s supply” of the drink).
A single can of soda contains about 8.75 teaspoons of sugar. The American Heart Association recommends that women consume no more than six teaspoons of sugar a day while men can consume up to nine teaspoons of sugar per day.
Photo of Zippy’s Zip-Pac: Janine/Wikimedia Commons