INDIANAPOLIS — It’s a moment that NFL fans won’t soon forget.
Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the football field during a game in Cincinnati after going into cardiac arrest.
(NOTE: The attached video is a previous 13News report about AEDs in police vehicles.)
“Everybody knew what their role was and what needed to happen in that moment,” said Nate Breske, head athletic trainer for the Bills.
Breske addressed trainers Wednesday at the National Athletic Trainers Association Symposium in downtown Indianapolis. He was one of the trainers who helped save Hamlin’s life that night. So was Denny Kellington.
“We all know the good Lord was there helping us do our job and relying on our practice and our preparation,” Kellington said.
Beyond saving Hamlin’s life that night, fellow panelists said what happened raised awareness about the importance of having an action plan and an automatic electronic defibrillator at school sporting events.
“I had several phone calls from some of our athletic directors asking, ‘What do we do if that happens at our school?’” said Dave Weikel, an athletic trainer and a sports medicine manager at Franciscan Health Indianapolis.
“If I go to a youth sporting event, I have a child, I’m going to see where that AED is hiding because often times, it’s hiding. It’s not in plain sight,” added panelist Dr. Andrew Gregory with the American College of Sports Medicine.
“We have nine or ten AEDs on campus that we supply,” said athletic trainer Dr. Andrew Schweitzer, who works at a high school in Florida.
Schweitzer said after what happened to Hamlin, even his students are more aware of what an AED is and how it can save your life.
“They’re seeing, ‘Wow! This is really something, we need to have it. It’s a good thing that we have all these!’” Schweitzer said.
This past legislative session, Indiana lawmakers showed their support for the importance of AED’s at school events. Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a bill into law last month that passed overwhelmingly in both chambers. The law, which takes effect on July 1, requires schools to have AEDs within three minutes of any school activity.
Under the new law, schools are also required to have an action plan, with training and drills so staff know where an AED is located and how to use one. Could what happened to Hamlin have influenced that decision? Local athletic trainers say it certainly didn’t hurt.
“I think this pushed them to this direction, realizing the importance of it,” said Weikel.
It's an importance, Bills trainers said, people who work in their field have known for a long time.
“Athletic trainers have been doing this a long time. Ours just happened to be on the national scene and thankfully, we did our jobs and did it well and that’s why we’re having this conversation today,” Kellington said.