Quinte West Water/Wastewater Superintendent, who is also a volunteer firefighter, is honoured for saving the life of a colleague at the Trent Port Marina. He was presented with a certificate by Quinte West Mayor Jim Harrison on November 20, 2017. (Photo: David Foot / Quinte News)
A longtime Quinte West volunteer firefighter and city employee has been honoured by council for his quick thinking that saved the life of another municipal worker in early October.
Paul Belej says the group was taking part in some municipal mental health first aid training at the Trent Port Marina and was on lunch break, when one of the participants started choking and couldn’t breathe.
Belej stepped in to perform the Heimlich maneuver and re-open the man’s airway.
Belej, who is the city’s superintendent of water and wastewater, says “he just did what anyone else would do” and his training as a part time volunteer firefighter for 22 years paid off that day.
