Pay it 4ward: El Pinto waiter recognized for saving woman’s life

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – In this week’s Pay it 4ward, Deborah Sewall wanted to give back to Carlos Gonzales – a college student, waiter and… lifesaver.

"I was at a class reunion, about 25 people of us there, and evidently I passed out, and he jumped right in and gave me CPR, he had to do CPR and chest compressions, and I think I kind of just died on them," Sewall said. "And then they got the ambulance here they did one of those heart compressions on me, but Carlos moved so quickly, he really did save my life."

Sewall was at El Pinto Restaurant when she collapsed because of low potassium, something that can be fatal.

Gonzales, a waiter at the restaurant, is studying at the University of New Mexico to be an EMT and aspires to go to medical school. This was the first time he’s practiced on a real human.

"I was serving enchiladas and the next thing you know, I was helping her and interestingly enough she was my first patient, if you can say that. Due to COVID, everything was theory based, they did absolutely amazing teaching us," Gonzales said.

Sewall said she’s so grateful to Carlos for what he did, she reached out to KOB 4 to help Pay it 4ward with $400.

"Thank you so much I really appreciate that, I’m happy that you’re OK,” said Gonzales.

“Yeah I’m just pretty impressed with you, how you helped me when I had my episode with my potassium, and you didn’t stop to consider anything else but helping me, and I contacted KOB, and they have a Pay it 4ward and this is for you," said Sewall.