News 10: Plans for AEDs required for camps and youth sports

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)–Governor Kathy Hochul has signed a new law requiring camps and youth sports programs to have a plan to implement Automated External Defibrillators, also known as AED’s.

“Automated External Defibrillators are the key to lengthening the ability to take care of patients who have an arrest in the field,” explained Dr. Mandeep Sidhu, Board President of the American Heart Association Capital Region. “What we are trying to do is shorten the chain of survival to get patients from the field and to our emergency department and to the hospital.”

While AED’s have been already been implemented in schools, a new law signed by Governor Hochul on Friday now requires camps and youth sports programs to establish a plan to have them as well.

“They have to include in their plan that somebody is gonna be trained and that they’re gonna have an equipment checklist,” explained Senator Shelley Mayer, who sponsored the bill. “But there is not a hard and fast deadline. Hopefully we are going to work towards getting some funding available to help them for those who can’t afford it, make sure that every kid and every sports group has access to getting it.”

Bill Smith, District 7 Youth Commissioner for New York State Softball, supports the legislation and said he’d like to see money allocated for AEDs.

“These are not cheap machines by any measure,” said Smith. “But at the end of the day, money doesn’t matter when it comes to saving someone’s life.

Senator Shelley Mayer, who represents a district downstate, has been working on getting the legislation signed for years, after two of her constituents were saved by AEDs at sporting events. But it wasn’t until an event years later that the law was signed.

“We had Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills and I was watching as a Bills fan that day, and everyone was just on bated breath,” recalls Mayer.

Back in January, Damar Hamlin, suffered cardiac arrest during a football game in Cincinnati. The quick actions of his athletic trainers helped save his life.

Hamlin released a statement saying, “My journey has shown us that no one expects cardiac arrest to happen—and we all need to be prepared.”

Read the article here: https://www.news10.com/news/plans-for-aeds-required-for-camps-and-youth-sports/