Meet The Trainer - Lindsay in Fordingbridge

I’m Lindsay, the local Daisy first Aid Trainer for Fordingbridge, Ringwood and Wimbourne area

Here are 5 things about me…

Why I became a Daisy First Aid Trainer….

I came across Daisy First Aid after I helped a family who’s 20 month old child was choking on a piece of sausage – after the incident the Mother was so distressed that she hadn’t known what to do I wanted to help her.

I had a look online and came across amazing reviews on Daisy First Aid classes. I sent a link to the mother happy that I had helped.

As the months went on I kept looking at the Daisy First Aid website and started to follow their amazing trainers on social media, I saw all the incredible things they were doing and really wanted to be involved.

I eventually plucked up the courage to call them for some more information, the first person to answer the phone to me at Daisy First Aid made me feel like and old friend and I knew instantly that I wanted to work with them, two weeks later I bought the franchise in my area and I haven’t looked back.

My background/own experience…

I have worked in aviation for 20 years, I joined a big international airline as a 19 year old back in 2001. I worked my way up through the ranks to be a Flight Service Manager and run the services on board the aircraft taking care of hundreds of passengers at a time. I’m now flying part time as I have two little girls age 4 and 3 and I live with my husband and my dog in The New Forest.

First Aid has been a huge part of my career over the last 20 years, as Cabin Crew we undergo vigorous Aviation medical Training with intense examination and assessment yearly. We study hard for these exams and learn to deliver first aid in the most confined, pressurised situations as often we have to take care of very unwell passengers until the aircraft can safely land and the passenger can get to hospital. We are trained to deal with everything from faints to full medical emergencies. We can deliver CPR and have to be able to operate the onboard Defib. We even do a training course on how to deliver a baby mid-flight!!!!!!!!

My transition to Daisy First Aid has felt very natural and it has been an amazing opportunity to transfer my skills to teaching Parents and care givers. I feel so passionate about giving people the confidence, skills and knowledge to deal with a situation that requires first aid not just as an experienced first aider but mostly as a parent myself. My own daughter had a febrile convulsion when she was 17 months old and despite it being terrifying to see my training kicked in so that I was able to take care of her until the medical professionals arrived, I like to share stories like these in my parenting classes as we never know when we might need our skills.

What I love about teaching…

Being a parent brings so much worry and anxiety, being able to deliver classes that genuinely help to relieve some of this concern gives me such a buzz.

I strive to make my classes relaxed and informal so that parents feel that they can ask any questions or discuss concerns they might have.

People often think that First Aid is very overwhelming but our classes are delivered without the jargon or scary assessments. I feel so privileged to be able to offer parents in my area the opportunity to come along and learn these life saving skills and each class gives me a renewed sense of satisfaction that I have helped them in a some way.

My proudest moment…

My first class was my proudest moment – I had the most lovely group of parents to be who have all stayed in touch with me and sent me photos when their babies arrived.

I felt so proud and honoured that they had found the class so engaging and that it had given them confidence on their parenting journey.

Something fun/interesting/ or important about me….

My dog is my best friend, he is a grumpy, lazy, six year old French Bulldog but he is my shadow, he goes everywhere with me! He is always happy to see me and I talk to him in a weird voice that my husband thinks is crazy!!! I even facetime him (the dog not my husband ha ha!!) when I am away flying.