TAMPA, Fla. — Medical teams rushed to help Damar Hamlin on the field Monday moments after he collapsed. It’s a job athletic trainers prepare for, while experts explain what you can do to help during an everyday emergency.
“Sometimes, often minutes or seconds are going to count in the survival of that athlete, whether at the high school level or the professional level,” said JC Andersen.
Andersen is an associate professor and Director of the Athletic Training program at the University of Tampa, helping teach students to be ready for anything.
“All of our athletic training students, and as athletic trainers, we’re all required to have emergency cardiac care training, so that’s two-person CPR, bag valve mask, AED, emergency oxygen administration, and to maintain that certification,” said Andersen.
Andersen explained some of the most important things his student athletic trainers need to know are to understand the potential of what can happen, be ready, and stay ready.
“An injury like this can happen at any moment, and it could happen not just to the players. It could happen to somebody on the sidelines,” said Andersen.
“It is not a matter of if something is going to happen, but we want to be prepared when something happens,” Christina Noell Bravi, the Aquatics Director at the Northwest Hillsborough Family YMCA.
As for what skills you can add to your toolkit for an everyday emergency, experts suggest learning CPR.
“To get basic level certification, you can do it at any Y locally, and it takes about three or four hours,” said Noell Bravi.
Noell Bravi pointed out there are a variety of different classes at the YMCA for people to get CPR certified.
“When you are dealing with a situation where somebody has no pulse and is not breathing, the faster that you act, the more likely you are going to be able to save that person’s life,” said Noell Bravi.
She shared how CPR works step by step.
“We’re going to start with compressions. You want to place your hand in the center part of the chest, and then you want to make sure that your body is up and over that central part of their chest,” said Noell Bravi. “We’re going at a rate of 30 compressions to every two breaths for an adult. Place the mask over their face, open up that airway. We want to make sure we’re getting air in and allowing that chest to rise.”
One big takeaway staff at the YMCA have is that if you don’t have time to get CPR certified, in case of an emergency, make sure you call 911. Staff said operators on the line can help walk people through what to do during a life-saving event.
ABC Action News reached out to the Tampa Bay Bucs to see how their teams are prepared for situations like what happened during the game Monday night, and we’re waiting to hear back.
