KIMBALL -- July 8 was just like any other day for Karen Charter when she suddenly fell extremely ill, started to see colorful boxes in her vision and felt that she was going to pass out. 

The next thing she knew, she was in an ambulance on the way to Kimball Hospital. 

What she didn’t know until later was that someone called 911, and Kimball Police Chief Jose Ruiz responded to the call. 

Charter said: “The police chief was two blocks away; he heard the call, and he wasn’t working but he came, and he said that he couldn’t get me to respond, so he rubbed my sternum until the ambulance arrived to make sure I was still alive.” 

Paramedics then transported her to the hospital to stabilize her, then she was transferred to Cheyenne for further evaluation and treatment. 

As Charter has been recovering from her life-threatening incident, she visited Ruiz and the paramedics, doctor and other staff who cared for her at Kimball Health Services. 

“I’m thankful for the police chief keeping me alive, I'm very thankful for Dr. Tyler deciding to send me over to the hospital in Cheyenne,” Charter said. “I went to see Dr. Tyler, I thanked him, I gave him a card, I gave the whole crew a card. One card for everybody. I was so thankful everybody kept me alive.”