Earlier this week Damar Hamlin was cleared to resume his professional football career. The 25-year-old safety for the Buffalo Bills suffered a sudden cardiac arrest in a televised Monday Night NFL game in January against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Hamlin's heart, as you'll recall, stopped on the football field after severe trauma to his chest disrupted his heart's electrical charge, causing life-threatening fibrillation. He was resuscitated after 10 minutes of medical intervention on the field, including an electric shock delivered by an Automated External Defibrillator (AED) and immediate Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR), before being transferred to the hospital in critical condition.
Since his release, an array of tests has confirmed that his heart has no underlying problems. Hamlin revealed this week that his cardiac arrest was caused by a condition known as commotio cordis. It's the leading cause of sudden death in youth across all sports.
Growing the Momentum in Iowa
Portable AEDs have been available for several decades. I remember standing up during an all-employee meeting at Meredith Corporation to ask our CEO when we might expect to have AEDs in our building. (With support from our corporate nurse Kathy Reardon, they were installed not long afterwards.)
Four years ago, our 4-H club teamed up with the Pilot Mound Fire Department to raise funds to install an AED in the community building. Last month, our 4-Hers and their parents were trained in hands-only CPR, in combination with an AED, thanks to DMACC simulation coordinator, Melody Bethards, who also is an American Heart Association instructor.
I hope that none of the kids, ages 9-18, ever require this life-saving procedure themselves. Hamlin's near-death experience dramatized the need for AEDs to resuscitate young athletes. He was more fortunate than most. In 2013, a high school senior named Jake West from LaPorte, Indiana, suffered a cardiac arrest during a September football practice. CPR efforts were unsuccessful.
West died from an undiagnosed heart condition. One in every 300 youth has such an undetected heart condition. It's the #1 killer of student athletes. According to the CDC, about 2,000 young, seemingly healthy people under age 25 in the U.S. die annually of sudden cardiac arrest. Athletic activities, as well as marching band, and theatre practices and performances create risks for youth at school. A routine sports physical isn't sufficient to reveal a serious cardiac condition.
Although cardiac arrests in children aren't common, they're commonly fatal. Only about 11% survive. Prevention is the number 1 goal. But, since most conditions are undetected, being equipped with medical technology is key.
As reported by Side Effects Public Media, about 20 states have enacted laws, some only for high schools, requiring an AED and an emergency cardiac plan. Nine other states have introduced bills this year, including Indiana, West's home state. His mom, Julie, is advocating for the legislation which would require all Indiana public, charter, and private schools to make AEDs accessible at all extracurricular activity practices and performances.
Iowa legislators seem to have followed a legislative playbook from other states on several issues this year, but not this one. Why not? Iowa coaches are required to have certification in AED/CPR. Although schools routinely have on-field medical crews during football games, are AEDs always available during basketball games, theatre practices and performances?
The cost of an AED ranges from $1,500 to $2000, and schools may need more than one. It must be mounted in a cabinet and maintained by changing batteries every two to five years and replacing pads every two years. It must be staffed. But, if we as Iowans, decide it's a priority for our schools, surely we can make the funding happen with a combination of public and private funds. Unlike the school voucher legislation passed earlier this session, it would benefit rural schools as well.
Is liability an issue? An AED was in the high school coach's office when West collapsed on the field. Recently, there have been lawsuits filed after students died at schools that had AEDs, but failed to use them. The first four minutes are critical. That's why it's important for schools to have a portable AED, along with a specific AED plan, and follow it.
Focus on Saving Young Lives
In recent years, parent advocates and others have formed foundations to address cardiac arrests in youth. Here's a sampling of resources:
· Julie West launched Play for Jake Foundation (playforjake.org) to focus on screening and grants to purchase AEDs.
· Hamlin plans to use his The Chasing M's Foundation (chasingmsfoundation.com) to raise awareness on CPR training and the importance of AEDS to youth sports. He's testified in Washington in support of bipartisan federal legislation, Access to AEDS, (H.R. 2370), to increase the availability of AEDS and related training on school campuses.
· The NFL is partnering with other major sports leagues and the American Red Cross and American Heart Association, in the Smart Heart Sports Coalition. The Buffalo Bills also will spend $1 million over five years to raise awareness and education about fatal cardiac arrests among high school athletes in western New York.
· ParentWatchHeart.org. has placed 156 AEDs in 36 states.
· Play Heart Smart (https://www.playheartsmart.org) in Indianapolis, Indiana, has mobile clinics to conduct cardiac ultrasounds and other tests. It partners with Theresa Mago, who formed the Zac Mago Foundation in Fort Harrison, Indiana after her son's death from cardiac arrest. The mobile unit already is booked for 2023, an upswing in interest credited to Damar Hamlin's near-death experience.
· Project ADAM (https://www.projectadam.com) has a total of 38 affiliated sites in 29 states. It's named after Adam Lemel, a 17-year-old Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, youth who died in 1999 while playing basketball. (It does not provide funds for AED purchase.)
Iowa doesn't seem to have a game plan requiring AEDs in schools. (Sen. Waylon Brown introduced SF87 requiring cardiac physicals.) But legislators have piled many other requirements on educators' plates in 2023, including restrictions on LGBTQ topics, school library books, bathroom, and pronoun use. Beyond the classroom, proposed legislation would create new life-threatening situations, including loosening child labor laws and allowing guns in vehicles in school parking lots. Are we, as a state, truly interested in protecting our youth?
Shortly after his 25th birthday this year, my nephew had surgery to replace a heart valve and repair a life-threatening aneurysm. During high school, he participated in basketball, wrestling, marching band, jazz band, and he showed livestock in 4-H. No one had any idea that his heart was a ticking time bomb. He could easily have been one of the statistics.
Losing a child is every parent's nightmare. Damar Hamlin's return to the NFL this year creates new momentum for the nine states proposing AED requirements. (Virginia recently passed its new legislation introduced after Hamlin was revived.)
No doubt the 2023 Iowa session will be noted for its passage of legislation targeted toward children. How many times, in defense of how many different bills, did you hear our legislators say, "We're just trying to protect children"? And yet, it's OK to allow teens to serve alcohol at restaurants, and work longer hours at jobs previously off-limits to them. And it's fine to allow firearms in vehicles on school property.
It's too late for Iowa in 2023. If legislators and our governor truly have the best interest of our kids at heart, they need to prove it by returning next year with a bipartisan game plan regarding schools and youth. Passing life-saving AED legislation would be a real win for Iowans and their children, and meet my definition of protecting kids.
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If the legislature really cared about our children, we would see a focus on gun safety legislation, rather than efforts to maximize the sale, ownership and carrying of guns.
Thank you for writing this column, Cheryl. This is an important issue that too many people know little or nothing about. Thank you, too, for challenging the republicans in the Iowa legislature to prove they care about children by taking measures to protect their lives with AED's that are readily available when needed.