As Flying J’s “employee of the quarter,” Terri Gudgell was recognized by general manager Dale Johnson, at right. In the middle is Alford Johnson who received emergency help from Gudgell.

Quick thinking by a  Tucumcari Elementary school kindergarten teacher at a Tucumcari truck plaza is credited with saving the life of a man who had an artery in his leg burst.

Tucumcari Elementary teacher Terri Gudgell was recognized Friday for using plastic wrap as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding from coworker Alford Johnson’s leg.

“She was very calm, cool, collected,” said Judy Powell, a waitress at the Flying J. “She acted as if it were no big deal.”

Gudgell, who teachers kindergarten, is working as a waitress during the summer at the Flying J.

Johnson, who is a dishwasher at the truck plaza, was standing at the sink when he noticed that there was blood on the floor.

He told others he was bleeding and that’s when Gudgell stepped in with kitchen towels.

“I’ve always been infatuated with nursing and nothing bothers me. I don’t get queasy. We used the kitchen towels to pack the area that was bleeding. Because they’re so short, we torn off some Saran wrap,” Gudgell said. 

Fellow worker Tana Haase-Garnett said they had set Johnson on a rolling chair, elevated his feet and had a car meet them in back of the restaurant at the Flying J.  Then they rushed Johnson to the hospital.

“The doctor told me she saved my life,” said Johnson of the incident on June 16.

Friday, general manager of the Tucumcari Flying J, Dale Johnson, who is not related to Alford, presented Gudgell with a certificate and a wish book from which she can select an item.

Gudgell was recognized as the “employee of the quarter.”

“It’s quite an honor – that’s out of hundreds of Flying J stores,” said Dale Johnson