T he Calcasieu Parish School Board likes to stay ahead of the game.
The state Legislature passed Senate Bill 12 Act 234 on June 9 which requires automatic external defibrillators at all K-12 schools and sponsored athletic events. Grounding Cable Price
No problem for CPSB, it has been doing that since 2014 with its partnership with Lake Charles Memorial Hospital, which has worked with the school system for 40 years.
“Lake Charles Memorial bought an AED back in 2014 for every full-time athletic trainer, every part-time athletic trainer, a PRN like myself,” said Aaron McDonald, CPSB director of transportation and part-time LCMH PRN. “If you see me at an event, I have it with me. Senate Bill 12, Act 234 has proven to us we are on the right track, and we are pushing the envelope further.”
The law also requires multiple people trained to use the AED as well as CPR at each school, a cardiac emergency response plan and procedures for maintaining the AEDs.
“As a parent of kids in the district, I feel confident that our coaches are prepared for an emergency in an after-school setting,” McDonald said. “I am confident as a parent that if I am not at the school, and something were to happen to my child or their friend, that we have the right people strategically scattered throughout the school day that will quickly respond and know what to do until a higher medical authority, EMS or whoever gets on the scene.”
The prior law required colleges to have AEDs in their athletic departments and high schools to have them if funding was available. The expanded law goes into effect in June 2024.
Without an AED readily available to respond to a cardiac emergency, the survival rate decreases to 50 percent, according to the American Heart Association, if a shock is not administered in the first 5 minutes.
Awareness in the value of AEDs and CPR increased after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field during a Jan. 2 “Monday Night Football” game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Hamlin experienced sudden cardiac arrest but immediate medical attention was credited with saving his life.
The NFL has since expanded The Smart Heart Sports Coalition in efforts to get all 50 states to adopt and enact policies at the high school level. Major sports leagues and medical associations are making a national push to make AEDs and CPR mandatory in schools and sporting events.
The Associated Press, citing the National Athletic Trainers Association, reported 37 percent of America’s public high schools have full access to athletic trainers despite statistics showing 93.4 percent of sports-related deaths in children are caused by sudden cardiac arrest, exertional heat stroke or exertional sickling, which can occur in people who carry the sickle cell trait.
In 2022, the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation reported 40 states required CPR training for all students before graduation while 20 states and the District of Columbia required AEDs to be in schools. California also mandates schools with sports teams must have AEDs on school grounds, the AP reported.
On Memorial Day weekend, Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris saved a 3-year-old boy after a near-drowning incident, 12 days after learning the life-saving procedures.
“That is one of the reasons why (LCMH) purchased all of us one,” McDonald said. “If we are there and on-site, chances are all we have to do is send a coach to the dugout to get it.
“A kid falls at second base, that could be from heat. We are going to quickly access it. You can look if they are clammy, blue or whatever. I am going to start compressions and tell the coach or second baseman to get the AED.”
The School Board requires multiple employees at each school to be certified to use the AED plus CPR training to decrease response times. They are recertified every two years.
“Every PE teacher, every head coach no matter the sport — band director, cheer sponsor, dance line or drill team, then the principal and two designees for in-house use,” McDonald said. “Our athletic trainers from Memorial have two schools (each).
“Like, (head trainer) Trey Younger has Sulphur and Starks. There might be a Wednesday afternoon where he is at Starks baseball and softball practice and Sulphur is still going to practice whether Trey is there or not. But that softball and baseball coach have that AED/CPR/first-aid certification and now the AED is there. If there is one at Sulphur High, they still might have a family night going and need that one there.”
The AEDs give audio prompts as to when to use shock pads and if CPR needs to continue.
“The AED is going to get the heart back in rhythm,” McDonald said. “It might tell you to begin compressions and it will give you a metronome at the rate you need to compress to try to get the heart back to rhythm after the shock.
“It will tell you all clear get your hands off of them; it will monitor and say ‘Apply shock.’ You will say ‘All clear’ and hit the button. Of course, we have all watched ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and all that. Then resume compressions.”
CPSB says it has 100 AEDs spread throughout its 64 sites and will be expanding that. McDonald and Jamey Rasberry, LCMH director of sports medicine, gave a presentation to the School Board earlier this year demonstrating the need for AEDs in multiple locations in each school. One example he gave was Sulphur High School, which has three but McDonald says needs 11, including one each at North Frasch Park and McMurry Park when games are played there.
“If we have an incident in the cafeteria or main hallway during the school day, we don’t have to go to the gym to get the coach and get the AED because there is usually one centrally located where the main offices are,” McDonald said.
Each unit can cost between $2,000 and $2,200, but since Act 234, McDonald said prices have started to drop. Act 234 also provides funding for schools to purchase AEDs through Jump Start Your Heart, Inc.
Aed Replacement Pads Shock pads and batteries have to be periodically replaced which is monitored by the CPSB Risk Management Department.