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Boynton Beach Chick-fil-A worker reunites with man she saved

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Posted at 11:52 AM, Mar 27, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-27 18:59:35-04

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — An 18-year-old Chick-fil-A worker is being credited with saving a man’s life at a Boynton Beach restaurant.

Boynton Beach High School senior Sarah VanRoekel saw Ed Kosiec go into cardiac arrest while she was working. VanRoekel jumped right in and started performing CPR on Kosiec.

"Cassie comes back and she's like, does anybody know CPR?" VanRoekel told WPTV. "I just ran out. I didn't say anything, I just took off my hairnet, took off my gloves, and I was like, where is he, where is she? We gotta get going ASAP."

VanRoekel did CPR until Boynton Beach Fire Rescue arrived on scene.

On Wednesday VanRoekel reunited with Koseic.

"It happened so fast," said Kosiec. "If someone's not there like Sarah was to help me, it could've been a lot different."

Fire Rescue officials said when firefighters arrived on scene, they were shocked to see someone so young working to save a man’s life.

"Sarah is a key ingredient to the whole story," said Capt. Jake Brant, who added Kosiec might not have survived if Sarah hadn't done CPR before their rescue squad got there.

VanRoekel said she learned CPR training from her Boynton Beach High School medical program.

"I was just drilled so well into the protocol, I didn’t even think twice about anything," VanRoekel said.

VanRoekel's goal is to get into medical school at the University of Miami and become a firefighter.

The Boynton Beach Chick-fil-A said they plan to train all of their employees on CPR, and have an automated external defibrillator, or AED, in all of their restaurants.