VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – NBA star Lebron James’ son, Bronny, is still recovering after the basketball player reportedly collapsed on the court suffering from Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). SCA is something several Central Florida districts have been working to prevent and prepare for as it’s the number one killer of athletes in the world. It’s also the fight of a local nonprofit working to prevent it nationwide.
One in 25 schools in the U.S. will have someone collapse on their campus from sudden cardiac arrest every single year.
Monday officially starts the fall sports season in Florida.
“The athletic trainers all carry an AED, the athletic trainers all in a head and at every practice workout, anything involving teams, there has to be a card-carrying first aid, CPR-trained coach,” said Lary Beal, Volusia County School’s athletic director.
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Beal said they check their automatic defibrillators (AED) every month to make sure they’re ready in case the worst is to happen.
The coaches are retrained every year, too.
“They’re mandated every year, every coach has to do the concussion, cardiac arrest, and heat and hydration course every year on FHSAA,” said Beal.
The sudden collapses of Bronny James and Buffalo Bills Safety Damar Hamlin brought the attention of cardiac arrest to a nationwide spotlight and the need for CPR training, AEDs, and heart screenings.
“If the AED isn’t within about three to four minutes, then you’re too far away from that AED,” said Shawn Sima, a director for Who We Play For.
Who We Play For is a nonprofit organization that was started in Brevard County after the death of a student from sudden cardiac arrest. It’s now the largest organization in the country that provides free or reduced-cost heart screenings for student-athletes but also helps sells AEDs to raise money for those screenings.
Sima’s daughter was saved by an AED when she collapsed.
“Believe it or not, only 20 states in the U.S., thankfully Florida is one of them, have any legislation that requires AEDs on campus,” he said.
In Congress now is a bipartisan bill called the Access to AEDs Act. It’s something Who We Play For has been pushing for since 2018.
“It makes $25 million over five years available for schools to apply for grants through the U.S. government to get AEDs on their campus,” said Sima.
It also makes sure there is a cardiac emergency response plan on those campuses, so people know how to react.
It’s been introduced to Congress and is being read by committees now.
“This will be one of the most lifesaving bills ever passed in the United States just by the number of people affected,” said Sima.
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