Snakebite survivor defends Powell County EMS team ahead of hearing: ‘They saved my life’

POWELL COUNTY, Ky. (FOX 56) — It was a life-or-death situation that now has a Powell County EMS team under fire.

Back in May, Kentucky Reptile Zoo venom extractor Jim Harrison was bitten by a Jameson’s mamba snake while working on an antivenom project.

“I was putting a male Jameson’s mamba with a female, and it touched the tail of the female. She shot out of the cage. I thought I was away from the male, so I went to grab it with a grab stick to grab the female to contain her back, and the male shot out of the cage and was about seven feet long, and he attached the fangs in the top of my thumb,” Harrison said.

Harrison got the zoo’s keeper to drive him to Stanton for the antiserum, where an ambulance met him.

“I told the paramedics that I would need five vials of antivenom and adrenaline and that I was probably going to need to be intubated. That’s the last thing I remember,” added Harrison.

Powell County Judge Executive Eddie Barnes said he and another EMS worker were called to help Harrison. He says they couldn’t reach their EMS director but did consult with medical staff at Clark Regional Medical Center.

“Unlike a copperhead or a rattlesnake, you have hours, but with a mamba bite, you have minutes. So we had to act fast,” Barnes said.

That’s when they administered the antivenom.

“I consider them heroes. They saved my life, but they also saved thousands more lives,” explained Harrison. “Because of the antivenom we make and the cancer research we’re doing right now with drugs that are coming from snake venom, we save hundreds of thousands of lives,” Harrison said.

But that decision could cost the EMS team their licenses. According to the Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services, only wilderness paramedics are allowed to administer antivenom. That rule changed two years ago—something Barnes and Harrison say they didn’t know.

“Why it was changed from normal paramedics administering anti-venom versus wilderness, I don’t know. But my favorite thing is if it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” Barnes said.

Now, Barnes and other EMS workers must go before KBEMS to defend their actions.

“I feel kind of guilty because of this position I somehow put them in,” Harrison said.

“You can’t put a price on a person’s life,” Barnes added.

“I appreciate what they did; they’re heroes to me,” Harrison said.

Their hearing is scheduled for September 30.

Eddie Slone, KBEMS executive director, said he could not speak about this particular case but explained how cases make it before the Preliminary Inquiry Board (PIB): 

When the Board receives a complaint or an individual self-reports allegations of a potential violation of regulations, scope of care issues, or deviations from protocols, a case is opened, and a preliminary investigation is completed.  As a matter of transparency and to assure consistent resolution, the PIB preliminary reviews investigative findings and determines whether a case warrants referral to a 13B Administrative Hearing for further action or dismissal.

He added that the PIB is comprised of peers in the field of EMS who are in a unique position to put themselves in the shoes of those appearing before the PIB.”

Officials explained that the overwhelming majority of the cases are either dismissed or, if referred for a hearing, are resolved by an agreed order, which typically includes remedial education.