Portage County Sheriff. MWC file photo by Mike Leischner
TOWN OF PINE GROVE, WI (WSAU) — A 69-year-old man suffering from a bee sting was revived after a Portage County Sheriff’s Officer deployed an EpiPen, according to a news release from Sheriff Mike Lukas.
Officers were called to a home in the Town of Pine Grove last Thursday for a report of an unresponsive man. Officers learned he was allergic to bee stings, and that others had tried administering medication from an EpiPen, but they didn’t know if they had done so correctly.
The responding officer was carrying an EpiPen, and after administering it, the man became responsive. Lukas says medical staff checked him out and released him without requiring a trip to the hospital.
Lukas says the pens are something every department should consider implementing, but not everyone can afford them. “There are things that you have to have, and then there are the things that you could get, but where are you going to come up with the funds? This is one of those.”
The Portage County Sheriff’s Office recently began carrying EpiPens through donations received from the Andrew Mueller Fund in June 2026. Mueller died from an undiagnosed peanut allergy at age 20; since then, his family has advocated for officers to carry the medication and be trained on how to use it.
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