Firefighter Honored for Potentially Life-Saving Effort

The Village Board honored Monday night a resident and firefighter who "most likely saved a life," according to his chief, when he rescued a choking person while attending a neighbor's party this summer.

Captain David Sobottke was presented a Certificate of Award by Chief Brian Leahy and the village's trustees for calmly and successfully performing the Heimlich maneuver on the party-goer around 7 p.m. June 16. The person needed no other medical assistance.   

"Captain Sobottke showed his dedication, skill and calmness during this extremely life-threatening situation and because of this, the patient is fine and should now live a normal life," Leahy said.

While at the party, Sobottke saw the person choking and another person was attempting to perform the Heimlich. Sobottke told a different party-goer to call 9-1-1, and took over the Heimlich. He was able to dislodge the piece of food causing the airway obstruction, and the person was immediately able to breathe normally.

Paramedics arrived a few minutes later and determined that the person was indeed fine.

"Without the expert assistance of Captain Sobottke performing the Heimlich maneuver on this patient that was unable to breathe," Leahy said, "the patient might have suffered a more serious outcome and possibly could have died as a result of this obstruction."

Sobottke and plenty of his family and friends were present at Monday's meeting for the captain's recognition.

"It was an urgent situation and it happed really fast," Sobottke said. "Happily we cleared it out before he conked out on us. ... It worked real well."