Adam Cech – September Star of the Month

September's Star of the Month is Slovakia-born Adam Cech, front office service manager at the Radisson SAS hotel in Leeds. Nominated by human resource manager Rachel Dackombe, he went the extra mile by saving a man's life. He spoke to Kerstin Kühn

Why did you nominate Adam?

Rachel Dackombe Adam completed his First Aid At Work certificate in October 2007, but it's very rare that you get the opportunity to put into practice the skills that you learn.

Adam had this opportunity when he discovered a man on the street in front of the hotel, who was very unwell. The man stopped breathing, but Adam calmly put his first aid training into practice and began to resuscitate him while waiting for an ambulance. Luckily, Adam managed to revive the man just as the ambulance arrived to take him to hospital.

To us, Adam went above and beyond what is expected of him within his role and truly deserves to win this award.

How do you feel having won the award?

Adam Cech It's a big shock to me. I've just come back from holiday and I had no idea I had been nominated for this award, so it's a really big surprise. I'm really pleased and excited about it, but also very shocked. But it's great to have my efforts recognised, and being rewarded in this way will motivate me to work even harder.

What happened the day you saved the man's life?

AC I had signed off work and saw a commotion outside the hotel. I went to see what was happening and realised people were panicking, and then I found a man lying on the ground. He had passed out and stopped breathing, so I applied my first aid knowledge and performed CPR and mouth-to-mouth on him.

He was a drug addict who looked quite dirty and smelt like alcohol, and none of the other people wanted to go near him despite him being so unwell. All I saw was another human being in need, so I did what I could to help him.

It took the ambulance around five minutes to arrive so I'm really pleased I was there to assist.

Did you ever hear from the man again?

AC Yes, he came round to the hotel a few days later, after he had been released from the hospital. He came to thank me for saving his life, but I was off duty so I didn't actually speak to him directly and only found out from my colleagues that he had come round.

What will you do with the £500 prize money?

AC I will spend the money on my team. We all work really hard together and they deserve a treat, so I will take them out for a nice meal somewhere outside the hotel and celebrate. Hopefully, this will give them as much of a boost as winning this award has given me.

To nominate someone for this award, visit www.caterersearch.com/starofthemonth