By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
LITTLE VALLEY — Two Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s deputies who were instrumental in saving the life of a West Valley man who was in shock after being stung by bees last month received commendations at the Cattaraugus County Legislature meeting Wednesday.
Stanley Cizdziel was cutting trees with a friend on July 26 when he encountered a hive of bees.
Cizdziel was stung between 15 and 20 times as he raced to his truck and passed out from anaphylactic shock. His friend called 911 and told the dispatcher he was turning blue and had difficulty breathing.
Earlier this year, the Sheriff’s Office trained and equipped deputies with epinephrine auto-injectors, commonly known as EpiPens.
When dispatchers determined no one at the scene had an EpiPen, they alerted emergency medical services and rerouted deputies to the scene
First on the scene was Deputy Andrew Schumaker arrived within minutes and began assessing and rendering care to Cizdziel, who was suffering an anaphylactic reaction and needed epinephrine.
As Deputy Rachel Zimmer pulled up a minute later, she removed the epinephrine auto-injector from her vest, prepped it, and had it ready for administration as she moved to the patient.
An off duty EMT and friend of Cizdziel was also on-scene and assisted deputies in administering the epinephrine and caring for him until EMS arrived 10 minutes later.
Cizdziel was transported to Springville Hospital where he was treated and monitored for several hours.
The emergency room doctor said Cizdziel would probably have died if the epinephrine had not been administered so quickly.
Cizdziel is the first patient that deputies administered epinephrine to.
County Legislature Chairman Andrew Burr presented Deputies Schumaker and Zimmer with commendations and they received a standing ovation from county lawmakers.
“I can’t thank you enough and your models for public service,” Burr told the deputies. “We’re very proud of you for going above and beyond the call of duty.”
Assemblyman Joe Sempoliski and a representative from State Sen. George Borrello’s office also presented commendations to Schumaker and Zimmer.
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