Orlando hotel worker awarded after saving boy from drowning

ORLANDO, Fla. - Robert Mejias has been a bellman at the Floridays Resort Orlando since 2014.

In August of 2020, he took up other duties to help out during the pandemic, including attending the pool.

"This was a beautiful day and all of a sudden the rain just came out of nowhere," Robert said. He was on the patio balcony while attending the pool. He observed a three-year-old boy in the water and he wasn’t moving. "I looked down, I see him floating over here by the chair."

Robert ran down just as the boy's mother pulled him out of the pool.

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"Do the compressions. For a little bit, I didn’t think he was going to come back but I wasn’t going to stop," he said.

The boy had apparently fallen into the pool while the family was talking just steps away. He was unresponsive for about three minutes.

"I was scared, nervous, but the only thing in my mind was to save his life," Robert said.

He performed CPR for two minutes before the boy opened his eyes.

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"They were crying. Everybody was crying," Robert added.

Thankfully, Robert had learned CPR just weeks before at work.

"He didn’t want to do the CPR training at first," said hotel general manager Cedric Pas, who recently made his employees take the class in case of a scenario just like this.

"He’s our hero. Our winner," said Pas.

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Last month, Robert was awarded the Golden Pineapple award from the Central Florida Hotel and Lodging Association.

"It’s a very prestigious award because every hotel votes on it," he explained. 

Robert received a glass plaque. He said the most precious gift was a card the family gave him after the boy recovered and returned the next day.

"It made me feel good. I was just happy that he was okay," he added.

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Robert hasn’t seen the boy since but says he would love for them to come back.

"If I see him again, I would like to say hi to him," he said.

Besides the award, Robert got a big gift basket and the hotel says they’ll be giving him a $500 check as a thank you.

Watch FOX 35 Orlando for the latest Central Florida news.