Westchester County mandates first responders carry EpiPen as new law passes unanimously
Westchester is now the second New York county to mandate emergency responders, including police, carry epinephrine auto-injectors, commonly known as EpiPens.
The County Board of Legislators on Monday voted unanimously for first responders to be trained to carry the life-saving devices to treat severe allergic reactions.
It comes after 17-year-old Jared Saiontz and his family spent years advocating for food allergy laws and awareness.
"It's so meaningful to me, personally, just because whole life I've grown up with 26 anaphylactic food allergies," Saiontz said.
"More people are dealing with allergies than ever," Board Chairman Vedat Gashi said. "It was a constituent of mine, somebody who lives in my district, who reached out and said how important it was to her and her family."
Saiontz and his mother, Stacey, reached out to Gashi after he had a near-death experience at school.
"Someone who I was friends with, who didn't know I was allergic to something, pied me in the face because that's what everyone was doing, and I had an allergic reaction," he said.
School first responder stepped in and used an EpiPen to save his life.
"I could get stung by a bee and have an allergic reaction, and I might not even be able to tell someone where my EpiPens are," Saiontz said. "Now even with this law going into place in Westchester County, it just makes me feel much more safe."
Long Island county passed 1st EpiPen law in New York
Suffolk County passed the first law of this kind in the state in September. Days later, first responders used an EpiPen to save a Long Island man who was stung by a bee.
"Knowing FR will be there to help, knows what to do and can save his life, so important," said Stacey Saiontz, Jared's mother.
The mandate was made possible under Gio's Law, which when into effect in 2019, after Georgina Cornago lost her son, Giovanni, to a peanut allergy attack on Long Island.
The law was amended late last year to include all counties.
Cornago told CBS News New York her son always wanted to help people and that's what the law and allergy awareness does.
"We didn't know Gio personally, but we've known Georgina, his mom, for years. And so every year we go up to Albany and we advocate together for different food allergy legislation," Stacey Saiontz said.
There's now a federal push to have first responders across the country carry epinephrine auto-injectors.