Peter Gallace, 48, was in his Jefferson yard last summer, working with his wife, when something stung him.

His wife, Sherry, says her husband was wearing shorts that August day, and she could see two bites on his lower leg.

As he walked toward the front of their house, he started to “go crazy,” she says, now realizing he was going into shock. He told her he felt he was going to be sick.

After telling her husband to lie down, which he did, she ran to a neighbor’s house to get help.

A Jefferson firetruck and an ambulance from Windsor rushed to their home, but it was too late.

Now Sherry Gallace is among those behind a bill introduced in the Legislature that would give first responders in Maine tools to treat victims.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. A. David Trahan, R-Waldoboro, would pay for bee sting kits and training for medical first responders. Trahan said his bill would affect emergency medical technicians, but “it would make sense to apply to [any medical personnel] who respond.”

The legislation would require first responders to carry epinephrine autoinjectors – also known as an Epi-pen – and allow them to administer the automatic shots.

When Peter Gallace was stung, a Jefferson fire vehicle arrived, but the first responders did not have epinephrine. Had they carried the kits, Sherry Gallace said, she would have given her husband the shot.

Maine law doesn’t allow licensed first responders and basic emergency medical technicians to carry or administer the shots, according to Dennis Camber, a Rockland paramedic. But EMTs may assist a patient who has an Epi-pen, under the supervision of an emergency room doctor at the nearest hospital.

“The problem with helping someone is many times they’re unconscious,” Trahan said.

Epinephrine is used to treat any severe allergic reaction or anaphylactic shock, according to a Rockland pharmacist, whether it’s bee stings, food reactions or latex allergies.

What baffles Trahan is that school nurses in Maine can train school secretaries to administer the Epi-pens in their absence. Yet an EMT can’t.

“To me that makes no sense,” Trahan said.

DeEtte Hall, school nurse consultant for the state Department of Education, confirmed Wednesday that some school nurses train secretaries to take over in their absence if medications, including an Epi-pen, need to be administered.

Policies vary among school districts, she said, but particularly in the case of known allergies, secretaries could be trained. “It’s not a black-and-white situation,” Hall said.

An SAD 40 nurse, Lorraine Lash, said Wednesday that not only are secretaries trained to administer Epi-pens, but that some staff and bus drivers are, too. The schools and buses also keep an Epi-pen on hand in case of emergencies, she said, “because this is something life-threatening.”

Lash, who is a registered nurse, is a basic EMT for Friendship Ambulance, she said, and cannot administer an Epi-pen in her volunteer role.

The difference between medical first responders or basic EMTs and nonmedical school staff is simply training, Bradshaw said.

An estimated 100 people die each year from reactions to bee stings, and up to 2 million Americans have had allergic reactions to insect bites.

From 1980 to 1998, there were three deaths in Maine as a result of stings from hornets, wasps or bees, said Brenda Corkum, director of the state Bureau of Health Statistical Services.

An acquaintance of Trahan’s, Peter Tibbetts of Gardiner, was stung by a wasp four years ago and nearly died. In an interview, Tibbetts noted that he had had no previous indication that he was allergic to insect venom.

Tibbetts had just finished mowing his lawn in South Gardiner last summer. Tibbetts and his wife, Carolyn, were watching a thunderstorm in the distance when he disturbed a paper wasp nest. He was stung twice in the ankle.

Tibbetts ran to the house patio, and his wife – an entomologist, or insect specialist, – went inside to get a medicated cream.

Within a minute, Tibbetts’ vision started “closing in,” he said, and he remembers thinking to yell “call 911,” but the words never came out.

According to Tibbetts, his anaphylactic reaction was different from the usual swelling of airways. The venom from the insect slowed his metabolism and nearly stopped his heart, he said. When paramedics arrived within five minutes, his pulse was barely detectable.

Tibbetts ended up spending the night at MaineGeneral Hospital in Augusta, hooked up to a heart monitor. It took him two weeks to fully recover.

Since then, he has tested negative for bee sting allergy, he said, explaining that 30 percent of victims build up a resistance and shed their sensitivity.

Since Trahan’s proposal has been introduced as an emergency bill, it would fund $15,535 in the fiscal year already under way, and $12,810 the next year to provide bee sting kits and training for first responders.

Jay Bradshaw, director of Maine Emergency Medical Services in Augusta, said Tuesday that he had not discussed the bill with Trahan and was not prepared to comment.

He noted that some people are allergic to epinephrine.

Camber questioned how many people would have the Epi-pens and how long the kits would sit unused.

According to a midcoast pharmacist, the Epi-pen costs $54 for adults or children, while an Anakit, which has a pre-filled – but not autoinjectable – syringe and chewable antihistamine, costs $49.

According to Bradshaw, the training for medical personnel to administer the epinephrine autoinjectors would take three to four hours.