By SAMARA MEHTA
Nearly a year since Buffalo Bills football player Damar Hamlin had to be resuscitated with an automated external defibrillators or AED on the field, interest in AEDs in schools has grown and more people are reaching out to the Louis Acompora Foundation to talk about the safety of sports such as football, lacrosse, and baseball.
On March 25th, 2000, Louis Acompora, freshman lacrosse goalie at Northport High School, collapsed after taking a lacrosse ball to the chest. The blunt force trauma of the injury caused Louis to suffer from Commotio Cordis and he unfortunately passed away shortly after. Now, 23 years later, his parents continue to carry on Louis’ legacy by raising awareness among schools and other public institutions about the importance of AEDs and ensuring that similar tragedies are prevented. Karen Acompora is the head of the Louis Acompora Foundation and has made it her goal to improve sports safety in schools across the country. She said, “Our mission statement is to make sure that we keep our student-athletes or young athletes safe, not only in schools but on the youth recreation field.”
The Louis Acompora Foundation helped pass Louis’ Law in honor of him and to ensure the implementation of AEDs in all county buildings, parks, and public schools on Long Island. Ms. Acompora said, “Obviously, we look at it as Lewis’ legacy. That law was passed in 2002, and it was unheard of that a law would pass that quickly. But thankfully, we had legislators and other local senators from Western New York that truly believed in the value of it, and they lobbied very hard to have it passed.”
Fortunately for Jericho students, Jericho High School has an excellent cardiac emergency plan and was one of the first schools on Long Island to implement Louis’ Law. Football coach Mr. Lahti said, “Every coach is mandated to bring an AED to every sporting event in Jericho. There are always AEDs present around on the field with our athletic trainer Ms. Pembroke, and there are also AEDs located throughout the hallways in the school.”
However, other schools throughout New York state aren’t as fortunate, and having multiple AEDs around campus isn’t a possibility for low-income schools. The affordability of AEDs remains a major problem that school districts across the nation face, with an average FDA-approved AED costing over $1,000 each. So far, only five U.S. states offer total funding to public schools for buying AEDs. Mr. Lahti said, “I think it’s a great law that every state should mandate, but unfortunately, these AEDs are very, very expensive. This has always been the trouble that they’ve been facing when implementing laws about AEDs.”
Along with having a cardiac emergency plan, Jericho offers an elective known as Sports Medicine. The course provides American Red Cross Certification in First Aid, CPR, and AED for Adult/Child and EpiPen. This course emphasizes the importance of having a cardiac emergency plan and teaches students the importance of being present on the scene if an emergency were to occur.
Jericho Athletic trainer and Sports Medicine teacher Ms. Pembroke said, “I think Hamlin’s injury, because it happened in such a public eye, has brought so much positive attention to not only the significance of AEDs in all athletic settings but also my professional field of athletic training. It’s important for all athletes to know how to use an AED in the event of an emergency.”
Regrettably, it took a near-fatal injury from Damar Hamlin to shine a light back on this dire need for AEDs, but hopefully, both Louis’s legacy and Damar’s recovery continue the push for AEDs in schools and sporting events to prevent further tragedies from happening.