School Nurse Saves Bus Driver’s Life After Bee Sting

A Columbia County school nurse and her colleagues are being honored for saving the life of a bus driver who was stung by a bee.

It happened the last week of September at Chatham Middle School when bus driver Darci Hover took a sip of her coconut water that had been sitting on the dash while students boarded that afternoon.

"While they got on the bus, I went ahead and drank the last of it." Hover said. "All of a sudden, my mouth got really hot and really sharp."

Hover said she spit out the liquid and saw a bee on the floor. She has a bee allergy and immediately realized she didn't have an epi pen with her. Starting to get dizzy, she alerted the bus yard supervisor who ran to get the school nurse, Kate Juliano.

"He said 'There's a bus driver that's allergic to bees and just got stung,'" said Juliano, who has been a nurse at CMS for the last five years. "We have an emergency epinephrine kit. I grabbed that and my emergency bag and ran right out."

Hover said she was in a lot of pain when Juliano arrived, saying it felt like she had swallowed a piece of glass.

"She said, 'I think we have to hit you with the epi pen,'" Hover recalled. "And I remember saying clearly, 'Don't stab me in front of my students and scare them!'"

With the help of Juliano and assistant principal Mike Stead, Hover was moved to an empty bus in the yard and given the epi pen away from the eyes of students. Suddenly, she passed out, only to be caught by Stead before her head hit the steps of the bus.

"That's when she got sick." Stead said. "And that's when I knew she needed to be raised so she could breathe."

As they waited for the ambulance to arrive, Juliano pulled the bee stinger out of Hover's tongue.

"I noticed something in it, so I used tweezers and removed the stinger," Juliano said.

Doctors say without Juliano's quick thinking, preparation and prior experience working as an ER nurse, the bee sting could have been fatal.

"I think sometimes school nurses get taken for granted," teacher's aide Mike Zwingelberg said. Once a paramedic, and former New York State Police investigator, he was witness to the teamwork that transpired that day in the bus yard.

"She's a nurse, she's a parent, she's a counselor, they do everything," he said.

Hover said she was out of work for a week after the incident and has made a full recovery. She's now back to driving buses as she has done for the last 18 years.

"Now, I have an epi pen in my car, my purse, I have one in my boss's office now," she said. "I don't drink out of an open cup anymore. My Yeti has a straw with a cap that looks like a teddy bear. Yeah, that's how we're going down with the drinks from now on!"

Juliano and her colleagues have since been recognized by the Chatham Central School District with hero awards for their actions that day. Hover said grateful is an understatement for what they did for her.

"To know they're the ones taking care of our kids... to know they were here for me as much as they would be for them... that's pretty reassuring."

Original article from CBS News 6 Albany.