MATT VOLZ
Asst. Sports Editor
Sports can be dangerous. There is always the possibility of injury, no matter the sport.
But many football fans likely will not forget what happened on Jan. 3, 2023, when Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed during a Monday Night Football game. Bills trainer Denny Kellington had to administer CPR for over nine minutes and used an automated external defibrillator (AED) to bring back Hamlin’s pulse.
In the NFL, trainers like Kellington are always on-site, and an ambulance is waiting on-call in case of an emergency.
But what if something like that happened to a varsity/NCAA athlete at Fredonia?
“That is our worst nightmare,” said Katie Miller, Fredonia’s assistant athletic trainer. “[But] we really are there in case the worst happens.”
Miller said she has never personally experienced something like Hamlin’s injury in her career.
Brenda Dean, head athletic trainer, expressed similar sentiments.
“I personally have been involved with situations like that, [at least] not here yet, knock on wood,” Dean said.
Although Miller and Dean have never seen anything quite as serious as Hamlin’s injury, they have both “sprung into action” to help an injured varsity athlete whether it was major or minor, according to Fredonia athletic director Jerry Fisk.
“They are both the kind of professionals that would step in and manage a situation much like the way it was handled in Cincinnati [with Hamlin],” Fisk said.
If some sort of catastrophic injury occurred at a Fredonia sporting event with a varsity athlete, the athletic trainer would be the first point of contact, according to Fisk. After that, the trainers would review the severity of the situation and determine if further medical attention was needed.
“The first step would be assessing the situation and deciding, ‘How bad is this? Do we need to call for EMS [Emergency Medical Services]?’ And that happens very quickly. If EMS needs to be called, we have to call UP [University Police]. UP then makes that phone call for us because our attention needs to be on the injured athlete. And then it’s a matter of kind of barking out to different people, ‘Call 911’ or ‘Bring me the AED,’” Dean said.
Miller said she tries to keep it simple and remember the “ABCD” – airways, breathing, circulation and defibrillation.
“You do that first, the chance of survival is going to be much better. Again, you can never guarantee anything, but you’ve [at least] done the things that are critical [at] that moment,” Miller said.
When performing life-saving measures such as CPR, the statistics show that time is of the essence. According to ProCPR, a website that educates individuals about CPR procedures and helps people obtain CPR training, the chances of survival are relatively high if CPR is administered within the first four minutes after the person went into a cardiac event. According to the site, nearly 45% of people who have experienced out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survived because bystanders administered CPR.
Because injuries happen and serious ones are always possible, Fisk said every school has an Emergency Action Plan (EAP). He said that each school’s plan may slightly differ based on the number of sports and the layout of the campus.
He also explained that UP is heavily involved in Fredonia’s response plan, and he is thankful to have them as an immediate resource.
“I think [UP chief Brent Isaacson] is great to work with and his staff is always quick to come over if there’s any sort of issue. I know that’s not the way [things are] on every campus, so that’s part of the reason it varies a little bit in some places,” Fisk said.
One such school whose plan slightly differs is SUNY Brockport. According to Erick Hart, the school’s head athletic director, they are able to have more athletic trainers thanks to their athletic training program, something Fredonia does not currently have.
“A lot of schools in the country are struggling with athletic trainers, and because we have a program, we are fortunate,” Hart said.
Hart said that Brockport’s EAP is always being updated, and staff is constantly being educated on what to do in case of an emergency. He also said that there are sometimes as many as four months’ worth of advanced planning in EAP logistics leading up to a major sporting event.
Varsity teams at both Brockport and Fredonia are able to have athletic trainers on-site during sporting events in case of an emergency.
But what about club or intramural teams?
Geoff Braun, Fredonia’s volleyball coach and director of intramurals, referenced the EAP and said that the club and intramural athletes first course of action should be to call UP, then 911.
He noted that it’s important to make sure that the first call is to UP because they don’t want a situation where “an ambulance [is] scooting through campus and [UP] not knowing what’s happening.” However, he tells his employees that it can’t hurt to still call 911 after UP is notified, and that it’s also okay if multiple people call 911.
“[We’re] keeping the scene safe and administering care appropriately. And that might include CPR, as in the [Hamlin] case, and the use of AED,” he said.
Mike Pitts, SUNY Potsdam’s head athletic trainer, said that their plan for intramural and club sports is similar.
“At Potsdam, [trainers] are only responsible for varsity athletics,” Pitts said. “So, any injury at club or intramural levels are handled by those parties, [club or intramural athletes], in attendance, meaning no differently than any student or community member would handle a car crash for instance. Call 911 and wait.”
Braun said that for Fredonia’s intramural and club sports, Fredonia requires that there must be at least one person at every game who is certified in CPR, AED and first aid.
Braun expressed a desire for clubs to put pressure on Student Association (SA) to set aside money in their budgets for athletic trainers to be on-site for club sports.
He also recognized that the need for athletic trainers would only apply to certain clubs, specifically club sports.
“So it’s [about] creating some kind of framework where there’s a category of club sports that would require an athletic trainer on site. The problem right now is, we don’t have a lot of athletic trainers around. We have two full-time NCAA athletic trainers [for varsity sports], but we don’t have anybody on staff … that could cover club sports So there are some challenges with athletic trainer availability. And budgeting is certainly one of the challenges,” Braun said.
Both Hart and Pitts also expressed that increased budgets would help improve overall athletic safety. Hart also mentioned that the NCAA has a recommendation system for how many athletic trainers each school should have on staff. The system recommends that, with as many athletic programs as Brockport has, they should have at least seven trainers on staff.
However, Hart said that they only have five trainers on staff, and they hire “per diems” (trainers for specific events) to fill in the gaps. Brockport currently has five on-staff trainers to cover its 23 varsity sports teams. Whereas, Fredonia currently has two trainers to cover its 19 varsity sports teams.
“That’s a huge piece of it; I think we probably need to do a better job from a medical standpoint,” Hart said.
Dean addressed that the field of science is changing and talked about how important it is to stay updated on the latest information.
“What was considered the gold standard five years ago may or may not still be considered the gold standard. So it’s just a matter of staying up to date on current education and science evolution and implementing that,” Dean said.
Miller also stressed the importance of everyone knowing the EAP and being aware of their roles in an emergency.
“[If] you look at the Damar Hamlin situation, everybody knew what their role was … I just think, the more people who are aware of the EAP and know exactly what their role is, that is crucial,” Miller said.
Although they believe things can be improved, Fisk, Braun and the athletic trainers believe that Fredonia would be prepared in the event of a serious varsity athlete injury.
“I have full faith and confidence in our staff and in our policies that, you know, big picture wise, things would go well,” Dean said.
Both Hart and Pitts also expressed their confidence in their schools’ preparedness for a major injury.
However, Dean and Miller both pointed out that nobody can be sure of anything until they’re in that moment. “You can do everything right, and sometimes, things just don’t go your way,” Dean said.
Because of this, Fisk and Braun believe that it is crucial for people to get trained in CPR, AED and first aid.
“I would like to see [the training] be something that everybody has because you never know when you’re going to be in that situation,” Fisk said. “You might have to step in, and I think that that seems to be something that would be worthwhile to me.”
Braun said that he has personally certified people at Fredonia who have ended up using the skills they learned in their personal life. Braun used to be a certified CPR instructor.
“You don’t really understand the value of it until it hits home,” he said. “You don’t know [how valuable it is] until you know.”
Fisk said CPR and first aid courses are regularly offered by the American Red Cross and local YMCAs. He also said that it is typically offered annually at most SUNY schools.
Braun believes that emergency preparedness can mean the difference between life and death, and it’s okay to have more preparation than what an individual might end up needing.
“Being over-prepared – there’s no such thing when it comes to human life,” Braun said.