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Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin's frightening on-field cardiac arrest on live Monday Night Football highlighted how critical having emergency response equipment and personnel can be to life-saving efforts. The incident also reminded us that neither equipment nor trained personnel are available in most American youth sports leagues, despite similar potential for life-threatening injuries.
After the 24-year-old Hamlin collapsed on the field, trainers and other medical professionals used an AED (automated external defibrillator) and spent nearly nine minutes giving him CPR. While Hamlin remains in critical condition, his chances for a full recovery were immeasurably improved by the advantages available at a professional sports event—educated personnel and life-saving equipment that should be available at every level of sports.
We all wait with concern and hope for Hamlin's recovery, but we know that such early intervention can save lives. Take for example footballers Fabrice Muamba and Christian Eriksen, both of whom collapsed on the pitch and were resuscitated via CPR and an AED; hockey star Jay Bouwmeester, who collapsed on the bench but was saved with prompt intervention; and Chris Pronger, who suffered a hockey puck to the chest and was then successfully resuscitated with CPR and an AED.
I know firsthand that these efforts are critical. I gave up my career as a ballerina after collapsing because of a genetic heart condition known as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM. As a result of my experience, I lobbied for the passage of the eponymous Lindsay's Law in Ohio, which aims to educate coaches, parents and athletes on the signs and symptoms of an underlying heart condition and requires a form to be signed in acknowledgment of them. In addition, a child exhibiting symptoms of heart disease is removed from play until cleared by a cardiologist. A version of this law has passed in 15 other states, but much more remains to be done across the country.
I built on my experiences lobbying for the passage of Lindsay's Law to push for the mandatory teaching of CPR and AED usage in public schools. Despite these efforts, only 38 states and Washington, D.C. have made CPR and AED training compulsory for all high school seniors. And many of these differ in style, standards, and scope. In part, over 70 percent of Americans still don't know how to perform CPR. This has tragic results, as only 46 percent of cardiac arrest victims receive CPR before help arrives, despite the fact that CPR performed within minutes of cardiac arrest doubles or triples the likelihood of survival.
In contrast, professional sports leagues like the NFL engage in extensive education, testing, and preparation for responding to incidents of sudden cardiac arrest. Teams and leagues have entire medical advisory boards devoted to setting best practices for responding to tragic situations like Hamlin's. While youth sports leagues will never have anywhere near the pro's resources, efficient and low-cost measures like education, CPR, and AED training can make a significant difference in preventing tragic outcomes.
Many Americans were transfixed Monday night by the sudden danger to an apparently healthy young man; each of us must now begin to ask straightforward questions, such as whether student athletes and coaches in public schools receive education about heart conditions and treatment, whether each student, trainer and coach is trained on CPR, and whether an AED is available for every sport and every game. If those common-sense measures are lacking, please join me in contacting your elected representatives to demand change that protects student athletes and helps ensure the best possible outcome when sudden cardiac arrest occurs.
Lindsay Davis, a former Miss Ohio, is an HCM patient and heart health advocate who led the passage of eponymous "Lindsay's Law"—a legislation protecting children from sudden cardiac arrest. She has championed legislation requiring CPR training mandates in high schools in several states. She also works to represent patient interests for the American College of Cardiology and The American Heart Association while advocating policy change at state and federal levels and helped to secure federal funding for research benefiting minority communities. She was awarded a "Point of Light" by former President George H. W. Bush and was recently named a Salim Yusuf Emerging Leader by the World Heart Federation.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
