FLINT (WJRT) –
(04/16/14) – If not for two workers at Burger King, a Flint man wouldn't be alive to tell his story.
The two women were honored Wednesday for their bravery and one received a very special surprise.
These two ladies were working an ordinary shift at the Burger King on Dort Highway.
"You don't need to wear a shield or a cape to be a hero," said MMR paramedic Ron Andersen. "You can be an employee at Burger King, you can be somebody who bags groceries."
And 46-year-old Howard Turner Jr. found his hometown heroes wearing a burger king uniform.
"Without them I definitely wouldn't be here and I know that for a fact," he said.
Lidia Rodriguez was working the drive-thru when Howard pulled up to the speaker – but something was wrong – he wasn't responding.
"I go toward my back room where I can see out to my speaker and I'm like, 'if you're okay raise your hand' and I didn't get no response," Rodriguez said.
She and co-worker Kelseigh Valdez ran outside and pulled him out of his car.
Rodriguez called 911 while Valdez performed CPR.
"I don't recall the girls getting me out," Turner said.
It turns out, Turner went into sudden cardiac arrest.
Paramedics say without Valdez and Rodriguez, he would've died.
"It was such a relief that he was okay and that he was at the hospital and it made me feel really good and it made me also feel a lot more relaxed so I could finish my shift," said Valdez.
MMR gave them both lifesaving awards – and a surprise for Valdez.
She just moved to Flint from Oregon where she was part of a volunteer paramedic program.
They're giving her a scholarship to become a professional paramedic, fulfilling her dream.
"I knew it was going to happen at some point in my life just not at Burger King," Valdez said.
This happened on March 29. Howard tells us he's still sore but doing much better.
