Cinema-goers perform emergency CPR after woman collapses

A 65-year-old woman suffered a cardiac arrest at the Everyman Cinema in Stratford's Bell Court last night (Thursday).

The woman was at the showing of Wonder Woman with her husband when she suddenly collapsed around 6pm. One of just four other audience members during the screening, in Screen One, was nurse Laura Hall who came to the woman's aid.

She told the Herald: “I heard a loud crash and looked around to see the husband looking very shocked and the woman collapsed. Her husband was trying to lift her back into her seat.”

Ms Hall gave CPR after quickly identifying the woman was not breathing and had no pulse.

Meanwhile the husband came to the bar area to raise the alarm. His cries for help were answered by Gill Cleeve, a first aid instructor who runs Brookvale First Aid Training, and who had been having coffee while waiting for her daughter to finish a drama club session at the nearby Stratford ArtsHouse.

The Everyman Cinema duty manager, Josie Englishby, rang the emergency services, who advised her to run and collect the nearest defibrillator from outside Loxley’s restaurant on Sheep Street.

Ms Cleeve said: “The woman had collapsed in the cinema aisle so it was quite hard to access her. I did chest compressions, while Laura did mouth-to-mouth.”

Paramedics were on the scene within around six minutes.

The woman had a pulse and was breathing by herself again by the time she was taken from the cinema by ambulance to Warwick Hospital.

Updates and further information to follow.