The Green Bay Packers donated $100,000 to bring life-saving equipment used to help resuscitate Buffalo Bills safety Dharma Hamlin to 80 schools and recreational sports facilities in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
“It was incredible after seeing Damar Hamlin’s shocking cardiac arrest and witnessing the first responders and the medical professionals who treated him,” Packers President and CEO Mark Murphy said in a statement Wednesday. After the response, we recognize our responsibility to act in our own communities.”
Lifesaving automated external defibrillators (AEDs) detect abnormal or fatal heart rhythms in individuals. If someone like Hamlin was experiencing a fatal heart rhythm, a pad would be attached to the torso and an AED would deliver a shock to the heart. The goal is to restore the heart cells that generate the electrical impulses to a normal heartbeat. Allowing the heart to beat too fast for too long will eventually stop beating.
Using an AED machine requires training. Bellin Health, Packers’ official healthcare partner, will conduct approximately 15 four-hour training sessions to ensure that each AED recipient has multiple representatives within their organization who are properly trained in CPR and AED use. Bellin team members will also conduct annual equipment inspections to ensure equipment is functioning properly.
First responders used an AED and performed CPR on Hamlin during a Jan. 2 game against the Cincinnati Bengals. He was taken by ambulance to a Cincinnati hospital where he is being treated in the intensive care unit. Hamlin is now back on the team’s training ground.
According to Bellin Health, approximately 350,000 people suffer cardiac arrest each year, an electrical shock to the heart, and half of them don’t get the help they need before an ambulance arrives. Another 10,000 Wisconsinians are hospitalized each year for heart attacks caused by clogged arteries, according to the state Department of Health Services.
“We are so grateful to the Green Bay Packers for donating incredible life-saving equipment to the communities we serve,” Bellin Health President Chris Woleske said in a statement. Education that provides assistance in emergencies saves lives.”
Packers and Bellin Health are also working together to expand the outreach of CPR and AED training throughout the region, with plans to offer large-scale public training opportunities at Lambeau Field in the coming months, as well as regional training opportunities throughout the region.
Additionally, the two organizations are collaborating to spread awareness of manual-only CPR, a form of CPR that is suitable for members of the public without any advanced medical training or experience. Manual-only CPR can help save lives by providing an initial life-saving effort before first responders arrive.
