Introducing Nurse Amanda Gaillet, HealthFirst Trainer
When did you start working for HealthFirst?
I started working for HealthFirst ten years ago. I had been working as a school nurse in an international school for eight years and been involved in developing the CPR and First Aid training programme for staff and students there.
After my father died suddenly and unexpectedly following cardiac arrest, I wanted to become more active in raising awareness of how to respond in an emergency situation, and to train as many people as possible in the life saving skills of CPR. I truly believe that everybody can save a life – they just need to immediately recognize the emergency and know what is the correct action to take.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
The thing that I enjoy most about my job is working with people. I love the interactions that take place during training courses. Often there is a lot of laughter, sometimes people share sad or traumatic experiences. There are always conversations with strangers that lead me to understand the world and humanity better. I feel that I learn from course participants just as much as I teach them.
What do you do when you are not working?
Being the mother of four adult sons, when I am not working, I spend quite a bit of time just keeping up with them and remaining closely involved in their lives even though they now all live in other countries. Luckily, they do come home regularly, and I love to travel, although I am happiest with all my chicks gathered around the dinner table in the family nest.
Day to day, as a fundamentally outdoorsy person, I am usually outside doing something active. I grew up in a seaside town in the north of England that had the most incredible Victorian bathing lake right next to the beach. My childhood summers were spent there, and I can’t ever remember a time when swimming was not a key part of my life. Switzerland for me, with all its lakes is a perfect place to live. I swim outside year-round and am a firm believer in the positive mental health benefits of cold water.
What is your guilty pleasure?
My guilty pleasure, hmmm, I have several, and I try not to feel too guilty about them!
I love to sit for an hour at around four o’clock and read before cracking on with dinner. If I find myself still sitting there and moving on to a glass of wine and a bowl of crisps at six o’clock – then I start to feel guilty!
What advice would you give to your younger self?
The advice I would give to my younger self – and tying in with guilty pleasure – is don’t be too hard on yourself. We only have one precious life, and it should be filled with joy. I had the most wonderful grandmother who embodied this belief, and instilled in me the importance of balance, appreciation of the small things in life, and that ‘people are important’.
