Sussex woman offers CPR training to Crawley schools and local communities

Lucy Soper, 38 from Horsted Keynes was inspired by a family incident to start The First Aid Company, which offers first aid at work qualification.

Mrs Soper was made redundant at Virgin Airways last June due to Covid, and decided to use her fourteen years experience as a cabin crew member to provide CPR training courses.

After a scary incident involving her mother, Mrs Soper started The First Aid Company to offer her expertise to the local community.

Mrs Soper said: “In August 2019, My Mum had gone into sudden cardiac arrest, so I had to do CPR on my mum for 6 minutes until the paramedics arrived.

“The paramedics arrived and shocked my mum 3 times with a defibrillator and brought her back to life. She survived and is now living her life as normal.

“Doing something like that to your mum is deeply traumatic, it's left me with a massive sadness. But then I thought, can you imagine being in my situation and having to watch your mum fade away. So I wanted to offer free CPR sessions to local residents, but obviously on cabin crew wages I couldn't afford to buy them.

“Then in March 2020, I was grounded from Virgin due to Covid. In June I received an email that I had been made redundant. I was devastated initially as flying isn't just a job it's a lifestyle. I went for a long walk, cried for fifteen minutes, then by the time I got home, I said to my husband ''It's fine I am going to set up my business and do this properly.

“So in June, I started setting up The First Aid Company. I offer first aid at work qualification, but I also do free CPR sessions for local communities and I’m fundraising for as many defibrillators in Sussex as I can.

“My first training job was at The Gatwick School in Manor Royal, it's an amazing school, fantastic facilities but no defibrillator. The Gatwick school has over 800 pupils, plus teachers and parents. I said to them that I would help them get a defibrillator.

“I didn't get taught first aid at school and there is a huge gap of people that dont know basic CPR, so it's my mission to bridge that gap.”

In September, Mrs Soper will be hiking, cycling and kayaking around Snowdon to raise vital funds to buy The Gatwick School a defibrillator. This defibrillator will be a public access defibrillator so will benefit the whole Manor Royal community. She will also be offering free CPR and defibrillator training.

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If you would like to donate, please visit Mrs Soper justgiving page at: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/lucy-soper-1?utm_term=Jmq5mvYB8