HEARTS Act will help provide lifesaving resources to schools

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Thursday will mark two years since Bills safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football game.

Now Hamlin is helping make impactful strides, not just on the field. His teamwork with the American Heart Association, the NFL and government partners, all helped pass the HEARTS Act.

“I’ve always envisioned myself making an impact on the field, trying to be the best player I can be and doing work in my community trying to give back,” Hamlin said. “To be able to have something that means just as much to the world, as what I can do on the field, truly gives that purpose.”

Hamlin says he found out the news when he woke up from a nap and received multiple calls and texts from his support team.

HEARTS Act supported by Damar Hamlin becomes law

“It makes me want to continue to do more cool stuff, continue to try to change the world any way I can, on and off the field,” said Hamlin.

The HEARTS Act is designed to help provide funds for public schools nationwide to have access to AEDs, CPR Training, and Cardiac Emergency Response Plans.

“It’s going to provide resources to public schools that really are going to become life saving resources on school grounds, athletic facilities, and could be the difference between life and death,” said Tom Lowe, the director of Community Impact serving Buffalo and Rochester with the American Heart Association.

Out of the 350,000 cardiac emergencies that happen in the United States every year, 23,000 of them happen to children.

“Ten percent of people who suffer from an out of hospital cardiac arrest survive, so there’s a huge gap there,” said Lowe. “Having AEDs in schools increase the number by seven times, and having cardiac emergency response plans in schools will increase that number by five times.”

In 2002, Louis’ Law was passed in New York State to mandate AEDs in public schools. The HEARTS Act will provide federal government resources to help provide this access nationwide.

“Our mission at the American Heart Association is to turn bystanders into lifesavers, and create a nation of lifesavers to teach as many people hands only CPR, to get as many people certified and try to get as many people trained on AEDs as possible,” said Lowe. “So in the event that someone has a cardiac emergency anywhere, there’s someone ready to step in.”

If you are interested in learning hand-only CPR or AED training, the American Heart Association encourages you to sign up for a class. To find a class near you, click here. For more information on the American Heart Association, click here.

As of right now, the AHA said there is not specific date of when this law will go into effect. They say that the program funding levels need to be established through a congressional appropriations process, then the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services must establish the grant application structure and process.

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Hope Winter is a reporter and multimedia journalist who has been part of the News 4 team since 2021. See more of her work here.

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