Cheektowaga, N.Y. (WBEN) - This week in Washington, D.C. marks a pillar moment for the push to make AEDs and CPR training more accessible to schools and others across Western New York and the United States.
During a visit to Cheektowaga High School on Monday, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was joined by Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin, as well as other local leaders and healthcare workers to announce the upcoming presentation of the life-saving Cardiomyopathy Health Education, Awareness, Research and Training in Schools (HEARTS) Act to the Senate floor this week.
For months, Sen. Schumer has worked together with Hamlin to bring the HEARTS Act to the Senate floor for a unanimous consent vote to be passed into law. Now they're now launching their final push to show why lawmakers in Washington and others should support the bipartisan legislation to help schools and students be prepared to respond to cardiac emergencies by making AEDs and CPR training more accessible.
"We're right on the one yard line of passing this bill. And I will go to the floor of the Senate this week, and ask the whole Senate - bipartisan, Democrats and Republicans - to vote for this bill. And then it will go to the president, he will sign it, and every school will have one of those machines," said Sen. Schumer on Monday.
When Hamlin went into cardiac arrest during a Week 17 matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals on Jan. 2, 2023 at Paycor Stadium, the Bills' medical team used an AED and performed CPR on the field, saving Hamlin’s life.
Since then, Hamlin has used his miraculous and inspirational recovery story to help kids across the country, and working with Schumer to create a new federal program that will help put more AEDs in schools.
"After he had his incident two years ago at the football game, he cooked up, with the American Heart Association - it was his idea - to make sure every school, particularly the schools that might not afford it on their own, get this machine. And he visited me and said, 'Could you help me?', because I'm the leader of the Senate. And I said yes. And we spent the whole day walking back-and-forth, talking to senators and saying why it's important," Sen. Schumer said.
"I've been working with partners who understand how important it is to provide CPR education and have access to AEDs. I met with Sen. Schumer, and we talked about how important the HEARTS Act is. And on that day in March, he gave me his word. He promised me that he would work with the colleagues to move this bill forward," said Hamlin, who's also a member of the NFL Smart Heart Sports Coalition and National Ambassador for the American Heart Association's Nation of Lifesavers movement.
Sen. Schumer says the bipartisan HEARTS Act, which the U.S. House of Representatives passed earlier this year, would provide direct grants to elementary and secondary schools.
The bill would also create a grant program at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support CPR and automated external defibrillator (AED) training, in addition to supporting the purchase of AEDs and the development of cardiac emergency response plans, which can more than double survival rates from cardiac arrest by empowering people nearby to dial 9-1-1, start CPR and use an AED.
Schumer explained that in schools with AEDs, children who experience cardiac arrest are seven times as likely to survive as children in schools without AEDs. Schumer also highlighted the importance of CPR training for students and adults in schools, saying that for every minute without CPR, chances of survival drop by 10%. With more people confident in their ability to perform CPR, people experiencing cardiac arrest will get the care they need more quickly.
"The saddest calls I receive in my office are from parents who have lost their children because there was not someone around them that knew CPR or there was not an AED," said Nancy Brown, chief executive officer of the American Heart Association on Monday. "One father called me and said, 'My wife and I have made it our mission to help educate people in our community.' And now with Damar's story and the bravery of our U.S. government, the world will change for families. And the world will change so that everyone has the same opportunity to survive that Damar had."
"I believe that every single one of them deserve the same kind of care that I had, as far as kids growing up who want to chase their dreams, and want to pursue anything that they want to do," added Hamlin. "We have a chance to be impacting the next generation. We've got a chance to make history, and I hope that every senator across the country will lend their support for this bill."