A former air hostess who took redundancy in lockdown has made a huge career change and now works in the ambulance service.
Mum-of-two Sarah Goulding, 54, lost her job as a British Airways cabin crew member during the Covid lockdown.
She’d worked at the airline for 32 years and during that time had gained experience of life-saving skills and first aid.
Sarah says this is what inspired her to retrain, as she'd "always loved" giving medical attention in an emergency.
She said: "I had an amazing career with British Airways and was fortunate to have travelled all over the world.
"Every year we had to study aviation medicine as part of our training, because you can't call an ambulance at 38,000 feet.
"I saw it all - childbirth, fitting, heart attacks and even sudden deaths - and I'd always really enjoyed giving first aid in an emergency."
Sarah added: "The ambulance service appealed to me because firstly, I liked the idea of helping people, and secondly, I liked the idea of being out and about in the community.
"The nature of the airline industry means you're never in one place for very long, and I wanted to keep hold of that element."
Sarah's new role is based in Wrexham, North Wales, where she is trained to treat and transport low acuity patients.
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She said: "Every day you learn something new, and helping people in their hour of need is such a rewarding feeling.
"I think about my parents and grandparents and how I'd want them to be treated - that's how I treat my patients.
"For me, it's about giving patients the respect and dignity they deserve and making them as comfortable as possible."
Sarah was offered redundancy when 10,000 workers at British Airways lost their jobs during lockdown - of this figure, 4,700 were cabin crew members.
Trade union Unite said 6,000 of the redundancies were, while a further 4,000 are compulsory.
Other roles that were made redundant include engineers and airport staff.
The job losses came at a difficult time for the travel industry on the whole, with flights cancelled and holidays banned for large parts of 2020.
