CHUBBUCK — A waiter at Chapala Mexican Restaurant has saved the lives of two people there during the past 15 months, according to Maria Valencia, who co-owns the local eatery with her husband.

Raul Cardenas of Chubbuck has worked at the Chubbuck restaurant, located at 117 W. Burnside Ave., for nine years. He saved a boy who suffered a seizure there on May 24 in 2019.

And recently, on Aug. 7, he saved a woman who was choking on a chip.

“In the 18 years we’ve owned the restaurant this is the second time that that’s happened to us,” Valencia said.

They were tense moments.

“With the little one, it was even worse because he was almost dead,” she said.

She says if Cardenas didn’t do what he did the young boy may not have survived.

She said when that happened a singer performing there noticed a boy in a large family group was falling from his high chair and told Cardenas.

“So Raul went and told the family, ‘I think something is wrong with the little boy,’” Valencia said.

He saw that the boy wasn’t responsive and that he appeared to have swallowed his tongue and was turning purple apparently due to some sort of seizure.

“It was so scary,” she said.

The restaurant was full so she started asking if any doctors or nurses where there, but there didn’t happen to be at that time.

Cardenas was checking the boy’s mouth to ensure he wasn’t choking on something. But that wasn’t the case.

So the boy’s grandpa and Cardenas started performing CPR.

“For four minutes they were doing the CPR, you know the breathing and pushing, and the boy woke up and started vomiting,” Valencia said.

Then he started to come around.

“And the little boy was looking at Raul like who is this guy,” she said. “And by then the paramedics arrived.”

In all, she said the boy, who was almost 2 years old, was unresponsive for more than a minute.

Afterward, the boy’s family, which was from Utah and had been visiting relatives in the area, brought Cardenas some flowers and presents to say thank you to him, she said.

“They said they were grateful that he saved this little boy’s life because I think he did; I think he really did,” she said.

And Raul has four kids of his own.

“So you know he has experience with children,” she said. “He knows kids.”

And she said that Cardenas just enjoys helping out in general.

“Like if he sees somebody on the road he will stop and help people change their tires and give battery power,” she said. “You know he just likes to help people.”

That personality helps make Cardenas a favorite waiter for people in the restaurant.

“In here, in the restaurant, if you ask the customers, everybody knows Raul and they ask for Raul all the time,” Valencia said. “I think everybody loves Raul.”

She said Cardenas was in the military in Mexico for five years and learned some first aid techniques there before moving to the U.S. for greater opportunities.

Plus, he wants to be a nurse so he watches videos about CPR and related emergency care methods. One of the videos was from Idaho State University.

“So he kind of remembered what he saw and he did it with the little boy,” she said.

Then Cardenas stepped up again on Aug. 7 to save an older woman who was choking on a chip, Valencia said.

“She couldn’t breathe, so he brought her water but that didn’t work,” she said. “So he had to tell her to stand up and he started doing the Heimlich.”

And the chip came out and she started breathing, Valencia said.

But she said they called 911 because the woman was feeling some pain on her ribs and the paramedics came.

“She told me he really saved my life because ‘I couldn’t breathe. I just couldn’t breathe,’” Valencia said.

One of the friends that was with the woman also said she was doing fine, according to Valencia.

Overall, she says Cardenas is an extremely handy person to have around.

“I am really glad that I have him working for me,” she said, “because you know he really saved the day.”