What the SEC learned from the Damar Hamlin incident

When Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field in Cincinnati and first responders performed CPR after he suffered a cardiac arrest, the SEC, like the rest of the sports world, paid attention. When the conference held its January meetings shortly after Hamlin’s life was saved, it wanted to know what it could do better in a similar situation.

Dr. Catherine O’Neal, the SEC’s chief medical officer, detailed the changes the conference has made to streamline medical care should a cardiac event occur on the field. Each team will now have a designated “lead” who will be in charge of administering care to the athlete during the medical timeout, according to O’Neal.

“If it’s an open fracture you want the orthopedist, right? But we’re specifically focusing on if you’ve had a cardiac arrest, who would be the person who’s most skilled on the field that day? ... “That’s why you need a designated person because all-in-all you may have four docs, six athletic trainers to show up and say, ‘Who’s role is what?’” O’Neal told AL.com.

Doctors diagnosed the 25-year-old Hamlin with commotion cordis, which the American Heart Association defines as “an extremely rare consequence of blunt force trauma to the heart that happens at exactly the wrong time in the heart rhythm, causing the heart to stop beating effectively.”

Under the new system, once a member of the staff signals the need for emergency medical services by crossing their arms against their chest, the lead will be identified. O’Neal likened the process to when a code is sent out at a hospital and an arriving doctor takes charge of the room.

“Within a couple weeks of (Hamlin’s collapse) happening we got back together and just said, ‘We need to talk about this. ... Is there anything we could do better? If so, what would that be? Do we feel good with our process? I think we feel really good with our process, but assigning roles is always helpful,” O’Neal said.

In addition to an orthopedist and sports medicine doctor, teams will also employ at least three athletic trainers as well. Team trainers have to be certified each year in AED, or automated external defibrillator, and Basic Life Support training.

Hamlin was cleared to return to the Buffalo Bills’ practice field on April 18, four months after his collapse.

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Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at NAlvarez@al.com.