Corpus Christi (KIII news) — Two citizens were honored Tuesday by the Corpus Christi Fire Department for saving a life earlier this year.
On May 20, 2018, Paramedic Shawn Gonzales happened to be at the Corpus Christi International Airport at the same time as Nurse Practitioner Heather Orr. One was headed to Maryland, the other to Dallas, but they crossed paths when a man went into cardiac arrest at the terminal.
"You know, I'm doing compressions and he's doing breaths and I said, 'Are you in the medical field?' And he said, 'Yes, I'm a paramedic,' and I said, 'Oh, I'm a nurse practitioner.' I think both of us looked at each other with a big sense of relief," Orr said.
Within a matter of minutes, they helped bring back the man's pulse. That's why they were honored Tuesday with the Lifesaving Award and Citizens Certificate of Merit.
"It's a real honor to receive and award like this, but especially from men and women who give their lives on the line everyday," Shawn Gonzales said.
Gonzales said he is humbled by the award and by what he experienced that day.
"Oh my goodness, here I am alone. I don't have the rest of my five crew members, all our medications, and monitors and drugs that we normally use," Gonzales said.
He said learning something as basic as CPR can be the difference between life and death.
"This gentleman was saved by just basic CPR. You can go pay for a class," Gonzales said. "It doesn't cost much. So just doing the CPR until the medic units get there is a big help."
Gonzales and Orr kept in touch with the man they saved and said he is in good condition now.
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