Trumbull worker honored for assisting man having seizure

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Cindy Novak says she thinks checking on a customer having health problems last month was a simple act.

“I feel like I didn’t do anything but what needed to be done,” she said last week while being honored by the Trumbull County commissioners for getting help for a man experiencing a seizure at the county sanitary engineer’s office.

Novak is administrative secretary at the office on Youngstown-Kingsville Road in Vienna.

“You just react. It’s just something you do. I hope someone would help if it was me or someone I care about,” she said.

Novak said the man was in line to pay his bill and put his head down in a way that caused Novak to believe he was feeling ill. He appeared to be disoriented.

She approached him and asked if he was all right. “He said, ‘I’m having a seizure.’ I called out, “Could someone call 911?’” she said. Jim Brutz, an assistant county prosecutor who provides legal advice to the sanitary engineer’s office, came out of his office, and they helped the man to a chair, she said.

He was yawning and drooling, and he couldn’t use his left arm, Novak said. The man also mentioned his dog was out in his vehicle, and he was concerned about him, so Novak went out and lowered the window to give the dog some air.

Ambulance workers arrived, and the man and his dog eventually left with his brother, she said, adding the man told her he had a history of seizures.

The office and the commissioners jointly honored Novak with a plaque for her concern and assistance.

In other business, Scott Verner, assistant county sanitary engineer, said his office is 35 percent finished “re-televising” the new county sewer line on Youngstown-Kingsville Road in Vienna to determine how much of the sewer line has flaws that need to be corrected.

An attorney recently hired by the county alleged that Youngstown contractor Marucci & Gaffney Excavating “may have manipulated” video testing of sewer lines the company installed to give the false impression the lines were installed correctly.

The office also is having new videos filmed of the Kinsman sewer project because of similar concerns with Marucci & Gaffney’s work on that project, Verner said.

The commissioners also approved a resolution proclaiming the week of June 8-13 as Trumbull County Dog License Forgiveness Days.

If residents purchase or renew a dog license on those days, they will not be required to pay the additional $18 fine if they failed to renew the license by the Jan. 31 deadline.

Licenses, which cost $18, can be renewed at the county auditor’s office at 160 High St. NW and the dog kennel, 7501 Anderson Ave., Howland. All dogs more than 3 months old must be licensed each year between Dec. 1 and Jan. 31, said Gwen Logan, executive dog warden.