Buffalo, N.Y. (WKBW) — The injury to Damar Hamlin has put the spotlight on emergency response at sporting events. Even though we see and hear more about serious injuries and incidents like Hamlin’s in professional sports, it happens at the youth level as well.
According to the Mayo Clinic, between one in 50,000 and one in 80,000 young athletes die each year from cardiac arrest. According to Stanford Medicine, more than one in five childhood traumatic brain injuries in the United States are related to sports and recreational activities.
At a minimum, instructors in New York need to be certified in emergency first aid, CPR and automated external defibrillators, according to the U.S. State Department. Dueuville University hosts a special training session to help youth sports coaches learn the skills they need to respond to life-threatening situations.
The high-speed thinking and decision-making skills of coaches and trainers are put to the test during the course.
“There’s always someone on the ground after hitting the ball or getting hit,” said D’Youville men’s lacrosse coach Jack Wilson. “They’re going to get up nine times out of 10, but that second or two is going to be scary, and that’s something we all have to be prepared for.”
To keep high school and collegiate athletes’ lives safe during emergencies, Dewville University has partnered with Sports Medicine Concepts to provide “Life-Saving Core4 Training.”
“Too often, the training that coaches and ATs receive has to do with CPR, AEDs, emergency action planning, but really has nothing to do with hands-on experience with traumatic injuries,” said Ona Halladay, executive director of intercollegiate athletics and recreation.
Coaches and trainers run a series of 10-minute simulations with full participation. They were forced to communicate and assess injuries on the field.
A large part of Core4 training is sensitizing coaches and trainers to the importance of clear communication when it comes to life-threatening situations such as cervical spine injuries, isolated head trauma, torso trauma and cardiac arrest.
“Personally, I probably get too bored with my athletic trainer and talk to my trainer cat too much, and she’s great,” Wilson said. “For me, it’s about building a good relationship with them and always It’s so easy to be 100% on the same page. It’s really easy, and you get a great group of friends.”
While Sports Medicine Concepts pros say most of these simulations represent the 1% of injuries these coaches and trainers have probably never seen before, Hamlin’s recent injury is a reminder that at any level of play, when Never say never when it comes to heart trauma.
“Unfortunately, injuries like cardiac arrest happen a lot in the minor leagues, a lot in men’s and women’s lacrosse, a lot in field hockey,” Halladay said. “People don’t really talk about it. We see it happen in football on the national stage, but it does happen all the time in youth sports and nobody is trained to deal with it.”
However, after Monday night’s training, everyone who attended the Core4 training knew what to do.
“I’d rather get all the training I need than call someone’s parents and tell them the bad news,” Wilson said.
