Damar Hamlin’s Brush With Death Will Save Lives Outside The NFL

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell at the Super Bowl week reminding us how the nation was riveted when Damar Hamlin lay motionless on the field and his heart stopped beating. Luckily they got it going again and he survived. I remember in my early years as a sports agent, two of my prospective NBA clients were Hank Gathers and his teammate Bo Kimble, star basketball players for Loyola Marymount University. I went on to represent Kimble in his NBA career but unfortunately on March 4^th 1990, Hank Gathers collapsed on his home court with his mother in the stands as he played in a game against Portland University. It is unclear whether any CPR was administered but absolutely certain that no automated external defibrillator (AED) was on hand. Gathers heart stopped and never started beating again; he was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead on arrival.

The nation was in shock.

When Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills collapsed on the field during their game with the Cincinnati Bengals, the Bengal medical team was prepared. Their prompt response and administering of CPR and an automated external defibrillator (AED) restarted Damar’s heart and began the emergency medical treatment responsible for saving his life. Damar was released from the hospital and back home seemingly on the road to full recovery.

The nation was overjoyed.

These two drastically different situations in preparedness illustrate the how critical immediate response and training is to saving lives in the case of cardiac arrest. Although not every high school, college and recreational facility has the resources of the NFL, there are important steps everyone can take to save lives in these types of cardiac arrest situations.

While Damar Hamlin’s episode occurred while playing football it wasn’t the result of an extraordinary condition but likely the result of an undetected heart condition condition triggered by certain strenuous activity. This type of occurrence can materialize during recreational activity in or out of a formal workout facility.

According to the American Heart Association, more than 350,000 people suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrests each year throughout the United States. And many of these events happen while people are working out: A 2013 study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found that 136 (or about 16%) of 849 public, indoor sudden cardiac arrests reported over a 12-year period in and around Seattle occurred at either traditional or non-traditional exercise facilities.

But that study also found that people who suffered cardiac arrest in traditional exercise facilities had a 56% survival rate, compared to just 45% for people who were in non-traditional exercise facilities (like community centers, church gyms, and dance studios), and 34% for those in other public spaces (like a mall or an airport). This is likely because AED’s are more likely to be prevalent and accessible in workout facilities.

So while roughly 84% of cardiac arrests while working out occur in unexpected places, it is possible to save lives by taking quick and decisive action informed by proper training.

I spoke about this to Dr. Mariell Jessup, Chief Science and Medical Officer for the American Heart AssociationAHA
(AHA), and she said: “there is a clear protocol that must be followed in responding to a cardiac arrest that we hope everyone will be trained to follow: immediately call 911, and then instantly administer CPR until emergency medical help and equipment arrives.”

By following a these few simple steps, anyone can potentially save a life during a cardiac emergency. CPR involves compressions to the chest to circulate blood and jump start breaths to oxygenate the blood.

These simple techniques can be used both on and off the field of athletic competition. Cardiac arrest can happen at anytime, anyplace and CPR training can save lives in both of these situations. Damar Hamlin has brought awareness to how critical it is to administer CPR in these life and death situations and this will encourage more people both in and out of sports to undertake this valuable training.

Taking this full circle, Gather’s teammate Bo Kimble, in honor of his fallen ex-teammate, has devoted much of his life to ensuring that AED’s are distributed throughout the nation as widely as possible. As the NFL demonstrated with Damar Hamlin, with increased CPR training and access to AED’s, this becomes a truly powerful force in saving lives.