Last July, the president and CEO of Utilities Kingston, Jim Keech, nearly died.
It was around noon on a Friday when Keech was running on a treadmill at the YMCA in Kingston.
While running he lost his breath and collapsed. The staff at the YMCA called the Frontenac Paramedics for help.
“When we arrived we noticed that he was severely out of breath, and severely distressed from shortness of breath. He was blue, he was still conscious and talking to us. Shortly after we got him on the stretcher we realized that his heart was in a lethal rhythm called v-tack,” Alexis Stoller, one of the paramedics who helped Keech, said.
Keech’s heart was working in overdrive and the paramedics were expecting his heart to stop at any moment. A couple of minutes later Keech’s heart did stop.
The paramedics performed CPR and within two minutes, they got his heart working again.
“The amount of times when that actually works and is successful is minimal. Most of the time when you’re dead, you stay dead,” Eric Donelle, another paramedic who helped save Keech, said.
Keech says “I’m very, very lucky, very fortunate” to be alive and get a second chance at life.
Stoller gives the credit to Keech for maintaining such great health. “It was a testament to his good health and the rapid response that we were able to provide that day.”
Keech wanted to meet the people who gave him a second chance at life. So he asked the Frontenac paramedics if that could be made possible and they agreed.
“Having an opportunity today to meet the people that saved me and listening to their story of how unusual it is to survive feels even better,” Keech said.
The paramedics didn’t come empty-handed. They brought Keech a pair of socks.
They said that while Keech was in hospital they noticed he was wearing bright pink socks. After he was revived, Keech told them about his love for funky socks.
So to commemorate his journey, they brought him socks with Frontenac logos on it as a present.
The province has dedicated May 27 to June 2 as Paramedics Services Week.
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