An uneasy hush fell over Paycor Stadium after Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field during the Jan. 2 nationally televised game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Hamlin was seriously injured during the first quarter of the National Football League game. After making a tackle, he stood up, and then collapsed, going into cardiac arrest.

A Pennsylvania native, Hamlin needed CPR on the field before he was taken to the ICU at the University of Cincinnati hospital and placed in critical condition.

The rapid response to administer CPR may have saved Hamlin’s life, which illustrates how important it is to learn the lifesaving technique.

A family’s loss

Hamlin’s situation hit home with Monroe County Commissioner Vice Chairman John Moyer.

Moyer and his wife, Rachel, know all too well the life-threatening consequences cardiac arrest can have.

Over 20 years ago, the couple’s son, Gregory Moyer, died while participating in a high school basketball game.

Gregory was a sophomore basketball player for Notre Dame of East Stroudsburg.

On Dec. 2, 2000, he played the first half of his team’s game and went into the locker room at halftime.

A short while later, John and Rachel were summoned and told that Gregory was unconscious on the floor.

John said CPR had not been started, and they were unaware of the procedures to follow in light of cardiac arrest.

“There was no defibrillator at the school that could be hooked up instantaneously,” John Moyer said. “The first one that came was unfortunately a number of minutes down the road.”

John said Gregory was then transported to Pocono Medical Center.

He said the Bill’s game “brought back all types of tough memories you try to keep in check (but can’t always).”

John said the couple “were opining it might be a cardiac event” involving Hamlin.

He said the faster a defibrillator is put on, the better the chance for survival.

Since their son’s death, the couple has been very active on that front.

John said Rachel has assisted states in passing legislation, and noted they have donated thousands of Automated External Defibrillators to organizations where children youth gather.

“We’ve done a lot of training of people on how to use them,” he said.

John said Rachel works as a consultant with Zoll Medical, which is a producer of AED’s, and that Rachel is frequently called upon to speak with parents and others interested in starting publicly automated external defibrillator programs.

In addition, he said Rachel is a founding member of Parent Heart Watch, a national organization, and has been extremely active in the 20-plus years since Gregory’s death.

John said incidents such as Hamlin’s brings to light “the need to have defibrillators present wherever kids get together, especially sporting events.

“Without an AED, the chance of surviving cardiac arrest is somewhere between 5 and 10 percent, but with a defibrillator if it’s hooked up quickly, it goes (to) over 50 percent,” he said. “I would take those odds any day.”

School safety

In the Northern Lehigh School District, there are AED machines in every building throughout the district, according to district Athletic Director Bryan Geist.

Geist said they have two athletic trainers on site who have a portable AED that they carry around at all practices and games.

Additionally, he said they have a golf cart in the fall and spring to get back and forth to different areas.

Geist said that the district has a contract with St. Luke’s University Health Network for a doctor for all home games and playoff games. He said away games have doctors supplied by the host district with whatever sports medicine provider health network is contracted; St. Luke’s University Health Network or Lehigh Valley Health Network.

Geist said that for all levels of football, there’s an ambulance on site, and for home cross-country meets, there’s an ambulance on site, more for heat exhaustion.

He added that all of the district’s coaches are certified with cardiac and concussion awareness.

“We have had other injuries, but nothing in which CPR and an AED machine had to be used,” Geist said. “We want to make sure all our athletes, coaches and staffing are as safe as possible.”

Geist said an added safety feature the district has on campus is an automated lightning detection system that has an audible horn and visual strobe light when there’s active lightning inside of 10 miles.

Basic Life

Support skills

Dr. Patrick Handley, Switchback Medical Center in Jim Thorpe, said Hamlin was fortunate to receive such excellent care.

“Most of these athletes are screened religiously for congenital abnormalities that occur in the heart as such before they start playing at a very young age,” Handley said. “I think the take-away is the early response with CPR is what saved his (Hamlin’s) life.”

Handley praised the individuals for their swift action, which ultimately saved Hamlin’s life.

“A shout out needs to go out to whoever was on the field, whether it was paramedics, or a medics physician; they’re the ones who truly saved his life by early CPR,” he said. “Those two things (early CPR and an AED) are what really saved his life, and what will give him neurological life.”

Handley encouraged everyone to make an attempt to get Basic Life Support skills, which he said is available at most hospitals.