Interview with Rhona Manning, Director and Founder at Help Save Lives, finalist in the Health and Wellness category. Help Save Lives raises awareness around the importance of defibrillators and LifeVac, an anti-choking device, and has recently launched a First Aid class for primary schools.  

What do you love most about your job?

I love watching children from 4 to 11 years old practising CPR on my specially designed CPR mannequins. Plus, at the end of my First Aid class I ask the children questions about what they have learnt. I LOVE hearing the children answer the First Aid questions correctly everytime! Especially when I ask ‘What telephone number do I ring to get help’ – 999!!!! WOW

What is a typical day for you and your business?

A typical day for me would be going to a primary school and training the children. Sometimes I can be at the school for a few days and sometimes just one day. I run three classes per day and train ages from 4 to 11 years. A typical Monday morning for me can be training a class of 4-5 year old children First Aid, including CPR. This is amazing! I am SO lucky.

A tip for women who want to start their career in your sector

This a great sector for anyone to work in. Know your First Aid and love training younger children. Once you have this you thrive in the job.

What do you love most about running your business in Royal Greenwich

I love running my business in Royal Greenwich because we have a fantastic business community plus a great council that look after us small businesses.

What role does your business play in the local area?

I feel that my business plays a massive part in my local area now, and going forward. I am starting to make a difference by training our primary school children on how to save lives. These children are our future. I am also working on a campaign to get all of our Royal Greenwich primary schools equipped with defibrillators by way of sponsorship.

Did you know that out of our 66 primary schools, 25 of them do not have defibrillators? We have managed to get 10 schools equipped, and we now need another 15 which I plan to get this year!

Can you tell us a bit about your journey to where you are?

I started my business eight years ago from a passion to get more defibrillators out in my community. Along the way I started promoting an amazing device called the LifeVac. This can help save a person’s life when they are choking.

Then just over three years ago I designed my FAB First Aid class for primary school children and wrote a little book to go with it. During this time I had to perform CPR and use my own defibrillator on my father. I turned this experience into a positive. Since then I have taught these skills to children so that they will remember them when they get bigger and older, just in case they were put in this situation. Like learning to ride a bicycle. I can still remember how to do that!