Today marks the one year anniversary of the signing of the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act (Act 59). This is the only law in the country that protects student athletes from sudden cardiac arrest. It’s really cool to get a law passed, and even cooler to speak at the bill signing, but what kind of impact has this law had on student athletes? How much safer are student athletes today?
The National Federation of State High School Associations conducts an annual participation survey. During the 2011- 12 school year, 7.7 million students participated in high school sports. Pennsylvania ranked 6th with 318,000 high school students participating.
IMPACT #1: Over 300,000 student athletes and their parents now know that sudden cardiac arrest is the #1 cause of death of student athletes.
IMPACT #2: Tens of thousands of coaches were trained on the warning signs of sudden cardiac arrest. and were required to remove players that exhibited these warning signs.
IMPACT #3: These videos, created by the Philadelphia Six (NCAA Hoops coaches), Olympic Gold Medalist Dana Vollmer, and NBA Champion Ronny Turiaf, have been seen by thousands of coaches and players.
IMPACT #4: Sanjay Gupta introduced millions of people across the country to this law and the risks of sudden cardiac arrest for student athletes.
IMPACT #5: Six other states have introduced this law: Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey and Oklahoma.
Our goal is for a majority of states to pass a version of this law by 2015. Will you help us make that a reality? Email us to find out what’s happening in your state.
P.S. We are still checking hearts and saving lives. This school year, we screened over 2,000 students in Philadelphia, Atlanta and Chicago.