ALR Training:
Helping save lives
with a sense of humour

Liz Richards met her paramedic husband, Alex, back in the 90s. After a long friendship they got together six years ago. With a new start as a couple, they decided to reconsider their careers. Liz had been an instructor for the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), but had always thought Alex's role as a paramedic was something she'd like to work towards.

In 2016, Liz took the plunge and became a voluntary community first responder, working up to ambulance technician. At the same time, Alex could see that there was a growing need for emergency care training – and Liz's expertise from the HSE would be perfect to provide it.

My work as an HSE instructor lent itself to emergency care training. They're both about protocols and processes. By combining this with my newly gained skills in the ambulance service, there was an obvious next step, says Liz.

We chose Fasthosts because we could build a site from scratch without technical knowledge.

This is when the couple launched ALR Training. It's a family run firm, with Liz's daughter also getting involved. Based in Buckinghamshire, the team delivers bespoke first aid, medical and health and safety training. They deliver the courses alongside their front-line roles, with both still taking at least one shift a week in the ambulance service to remain at the cutting-edge of what they do.

It's important we keep working on the front-line. We need to assure our clients that we're experts in every way. First aid can be exciting as well as hugely rewarding. I often tell people about real life situations I've faced, like the time I attended a road traffic collision where one car was on top of another in a country lane. Luckily there were only minor injuries, but you see all sorts and need to be ready for it. Quite often, a sense of humour helps. It keeps things in perspective, so we always keep our sessions fun and upbeat. People really appreciate that and often come back to work their way up through the levels.

ALR has its own training centre and now offers courses for everyone from medical support companies for big events, through to individuals who are re-training or improving their skills. In doing so, it can provide basic first response training, right up to paramedic standard. These are all certified by the QualSafe awarding body that oversees medical training.

We had a BA pilot through our doors recently, Says Liz. We also have a lot of ex-military customers who want to build on their knowledge having left the forces as they consider their next career step.

Liz says this has led to a huge increase in web traffic for the ALR website from across the world, most notably in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Our clients from an army background often begin planning their next steps while on tour. This means having a decent website is important.

ALR used Website Builder from Fasthosts to create the site. It allowed Liz and Alex to easily add all the information a prospective customer would need, while also being able to book a course and make a payment. In effect, the site allows ALR to do everything it needs to market and sell its services.

Getting a website is one of the first things all new businesses do. The question is, how are you going to build and maintain it? We're medical experts, not web designers. We chose Fasthosts because we could build a site from scratch without technical knowledge. We were small at the start and needed something that would suit the scale of what we were doing. Everything was done in a couple of days and we can edit it in minutes. The best thing is that it also provides email addresses. Everything is in one place, adds Liz.

The website has helped us go from a couple of people with an idea to a thriving business that's helping to save lives and bringing in global customers.

Without Fasthosts, we wouldn't have been able to do what we've done. The website has helped us go from a couple of people with an idea to a thriving business that's helping to save lives and bringing in global customers. We even had a trainee get in touch with us the other day to say he'd delivered his first baby having taken a pre-hospital first aid course with us. It's stories like this that make it all worth it. He was so pleased and we were delighted to have helped him bring a life into the world.

Liz says the website and everything that goes with it are cost effective. Fasthosts is really good value. It offers everything we need at a price we can afford as a small business. This helps us keep our costs down for customers.

It's easy to remember that every person Liz and Alex train could be saving a life. They do it with a smile and a sense of humour, but when those skills are desperately needed, it could make all the difference. Fasthosts is proud to have done its bit to help.