Head of Kingston Utilities returns to work after brush with death

Utilities Kingston president is back on the job following a shocking experience.

It’s a life and death story about the man in charge of Kingston’s electricity and, as it turns out, it took a big jolt to bring him back to life.

Utilities Kingston President and CEO Jim Keech collapsed on a treadmill at the gym this summer in cardiac arrest.

He was technically dead for three minutes but the quick thinking of others brought him back to life.  Now he’s on the road to recovery.

“I’m an engineer. I can put numbers to anything, anything and I have worked through the percentages of me being here. Less than five per cent of the people who have cardiac arrest outside of the hospital survive. My odds of being here are less than one per cent,” said Keech.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I'm an engineer. I can put numbers to anything, anything and I have worked through the percentages of me being here. Less than five per cent of the people who have cardiac arrest outside of the hospital survive. My odds of being here are less than one per cent," said Keech.

It was on a Friday at around noon about three months ago.  It happened at the West End YMCA while he was working out on a treadmill.

This seems to be a case of it can happen to anyone.

Keech is a 60-year-old man in extremely good health. In fact, he’s a triathlete and has been for a couple of decades now.

His ride to the hospital, though, was a real adventure.

“I died in the ambulance, I was gone for three minutes, they had to do CPR, they had to shock me back.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I died in the ambulance, I was gone for three minutes, they had to do CPR, they had to shock me back."

The long-serving head of Utilities Kingston says he’s grateful to everyone who helped out, from everyone at the Y, to the paramedics, to all of the people at the hospital.