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Schools Need Defibrillators, Taylor said
Last updated Tuesday, March 11, 2008 5:19 PM CDT in Prep Sports
By Nathan Allen
THE MORNING NEWS
FAYETTEVILLE -- The Arkansas Activities Association wants every school in the state to have access to automatic external defibrillators as soon as possible, said Lance Taylor, the AAA's executive director.
Although the AAA can't require schools to have AEDs, its currently working with state legislators and the American Heart Association to get that policy changed, Taylor said.
"We're going to recommend that all schools have (AEDs)," Taylor said. "It's like having an ambulance at a football game on Friday nights. We recommend that, but it's not required by the schools.
"Some areas you just can't do that, especially when you're talking about rural Arkansas."
Recent events have triggered the AAA to take a proactive approach about getting AEDs in schools sooner rather than later, Taylor said.
In Prairie Grove on Tuesday, an ambulance was called at about 8:30 a.m. to the football stadium's field house to assist a player that was having minor heart complications after a morning workout, said Danny Abshier, Prairie Grove's football coach.
Abshier said he first contacted the player's parents, who decided calling an ambulance was the best option for safety.
The player was treated and was later determined to be fine, Abshier said.
"If I error here, I'm going to error on the side that I was too cautious," said Abshier, who wouldn't release the player's name. "I have to think that even though this isn't my individual biological child, I'm going to treat them like it's my kid, and then go a little more lenient."
Other recent incidents have raised awareness about the importance of AEDs:
• On Jan. 2, Anthony Hobbs, a 16-year-old Little Rock Parkview basketball player, died during a game against Lake Hamilton. Hobbs, who died because of heart complications, collapsed during the first quarter as he was heading to the bench for a substitution.
• On Feb. 18, Shannon Veal, a 17-year-old Louisiana prep basketball player, died during a game in New Orleans after collapsing on the court. Veal died because of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a condition that involves an enlarged heart.
• On March 2, Adam Nickel, a 27-year-old from Madison, Wis., collapsed and died after completing the Little Rock Marathon. Nickel, also suffering from heart complications, was never revived by paramedics and was pronounced dead near the finish line.
Last year, state Rep. Sandra Prater, D-Jacksonville, sponsored legislation that required all public and private schools and institutions of higher education to have AEDs.
The bill passed through both the state House and Senate, but suffered a setback when it offered no source of funding for schools to get AEDs, Taylor said.
The average AED cost between $1,500-2,000, according to the Web site www.americanheart.org.
Taylor said there are currently a combined 472 AEDs in schools across the state; Conway recently had 12 donated to its district, the Pulaski County School District recently invested in 36, one for all of its schools, and the Little Rock School District recently invested in five, one for every high school.
"It's a big deal, it always will be a big deal," Taylor said. "Coaches across the state look for this and are trained on this every year, so we need to give them the tools they need when something happens.
"It's a scary thought, but something is always going to happen. We just need to make sure that when it does, we can give schools the tools they need to save people's lives."
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cpz wrote on Mar 12, 2008 11:17 AM:
This really hits home with me, as I know how important these are. Schools really do need them!
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