LEISURE centre workers have been praised after helping save the lives of two members of the public in less than a week.

Staff at Impulse Leisure Chanctonbury in Storrington used chest compressions and a defibrillator while waiting for paramedics to arrive.

Both patients were taken to hospital and are now recovering well.

In the first incident on Friday, Terry Bedford, 54, from Storrington, collapsed in front of his wife Angela during one of his regular personal training sessions at the gym.

Fitness instructor Chris Allen was joined by instructor Rick Ollier Howard, duty officer Ellie Wilson and recreation assistant Adam Homewood as they battled to help Mr Bedford, who had stopped breathing.

They carried out CPR with the help of a doctor who was using the gym at the time until paramedics arrived.

Mr Bedford regained consciousness and was taken to Worthing Hospital before being discharged, although he has been called back for more tests.

Mrs Bedford said: “We cannot thank the staff enough. They were absolutely brilliant.

“Not only did they do everything to help Terry, they also supported me at the same time.”

In the second incident on Monday a regular user of the centre became disorientated after completing an exercise class.

The 69-year-old started struggling for breath and staff immediately began to administer CPR but the casualty went into full cardiac arrest.

After two rounds of CPR, staff used a defibrillator to get the man’s heart beating again and he had regained consciousness by the time emergency services arrived.

He was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton where he is still recovering.

Duty officer Rob Nicholson, recreation assistant Emma Matthews and Mr Allen were all involved in the incident.

Mr Nicholson said: “We have had training to cope with incidents like this and this was a real team effort.

“Something like this is a very good advert for the need to have defibrillators in public places so they are easily accessible to all.”

Centre manager Jez Charlton said: “All of our centres are equipped with defibrillators and our staff undergo regular lifesaving training to prepare them for these type of incidents, but to have two in such quick succession is extremely rare.

“We are immensely proud of our staff. They acted with complete professionalism and we are all delighted the two men are now recovering.”