A legislative bill from Nebraska State Senator Beau Ballard of Lincoln would require school districts to develop a cardiac emergency response plan. “Each year approximately 23,000 children under the age of 18 experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital,” Ballard. “It is the leading cause of youth death in the United States.”
Ballard says about 40 percent of those incidents are sports related at school activities. The plan would require staff training and access to AED’s in an effort to stabilize patients in the critical first minutes before EMS arrives.
The American Heart Association of Nebraska thanked Ballard for his bill, which will now head to the legislative floor for debate. “Our students are at risk, whether in the classroom or on the playing field,” the organization said in a Facebook post. “Having a plan in place to enable faculty, staff, and students to quickly and correctly respond to a cardiac emergency can save lives. CPR, if performed immediately, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival.”