Access To AEDs Act: Advocating for Life-Saving Legislation

As part of its mission to protect young athletes’ hearts, the Smart Heart Sports Coalition is spearheading a collaborative effort that brings together major sports leagues, advocacy organizations, and medical experts to implement life-saving policies in youth sports.
It also recognizes that laws can make a powerful difference, including the Access To AEDs Act. Let’s examine this critical act and why it couldn’t come at a more crucial time.
The Access To AEDs Act aims to get more AEDs into schools and sports fields. How exactly does the act accomplish this?
Access To AED Act Primary Elements
The Access To AEDs Act gives money to schools and sports teams to buy AEDs. If a school cannot afford the device, the law helps solve that problem by providing funds.
The act also ensures that people learn how to use AEDs, as it’s not enough just to have the device. People need to know how to use it in an emergency. So, the law includes money for training programs.
Another critical part of the Access To AEDs Act is that it requires AEDs to be put in places where they’re easy to find and use. This might mean putting them near sports fields or in school hallways.
The legislation also says that schools and sports teams need to have a plan for what to do in an emergency, referred to as an Emergency Action Plan. The plan should specify who will use the AED, who will call for help, and what everyone else should do.
Smart Heart Sports Coalition Helps Push The Access To AEDs Act
Knowing sudden cardiac arrest can and does happen to young athletes, including kids who seem quite healthy, the Smart Heart Sports Coalition is working hard to convince legislatures of The Access To AEDs Act’s benefit.
From talking to lawmakers and explaining why AEDs are so crucial, to sharing stories of young athletes whose lives were saved by AEDs, to bringing in doctors and other experts who can explain the science behind why AEDs work, the organization is pulling out all the stops to bring The Access To AEDs Act to every state across the country.
Cost And Education Challenges Arise
Two things we know to be true: AEDs and training programs cost money. Secondly, schools are often tight on funds. The Smart Heart Sports Coalition explains that while there is a cost, the benefit of saving lives is well worth it. The organization also points out that the law provides money to help cover these costs.
Another challenge is that many people still don’t know how common sudden cardiac arrest is in young athletes. The Smart Heart Sports Coalition has worked tirelessly to educate people, frequently sharing statistics and information to help people understand why the Access To AEDs Act is so important.
Passed Laws Are Only The Beginning
The Smart Heart Sports Coalition doesn’t just work on getting the law passed. They also help make sure it’s being followed once it becomes a law. The organization checks to see if schools receive AEDs and if people are being trained to use them.
If the Coalition finds places where the Access To AEDs Act isn’t being followed, they work with those communities to fix the problem.
The Coalition’s work may not be easy, but the motivation is clear – and reinforced with every story from a family whose child was saved because an AED was nearby.
Still, the Smart Heart Sports Coalition can’t do this work alone. It needs help from all individuals who care about keeping young athletes safe.
Garnering Support From Your Local Lawmaker
How can you persuade lawmakers to support the Access To AEDs Act?
Speak up and share it! Tell your local and state government representative that you strongly support The Access To AEDs Act and explain why it’s important to you, the community and many of our children who play youth sports.
How can you do that? Sharing personal stories can be very powerful in a meeting where the law could be discussed. Do you have a personal experience or have you witnessed an instance of sudden cardiac arrest in a young student?
If not, many stories across the web speak to the heroism and tragedies that have occurred from the practice field to the arena. Was there an AED nearby? Was it used? Or was it not retrieved in time or at all?
These emotional outcomes may go a long way toward convincing lawmakers at the local and state level to support the Access To AEDs Act.
The American Heart Association also made it easy to email your senators. Simply click this link, fill out your information, and use the pre-populated message to email to your senators (or make it your own) to ask them to support the Access To AEDs Act.
Education on AEDs Is Power
Check with your local school and sports teams to see if they have AEDs and people who know how to use them. If they don’t, encourage them to get AEDs and training.
As you can imagine, education starts with you. After all, the more you know, the more you can help spread the word. So take the time to learn about sudden cardiac arrest, AEDs, and the importance of having these devices readily available as part of a plan.
Every young athlete should be able to play sports safely in an environment where life-saving devices are ever-present wherever young people play sports.
By supporting laws like the Access To AEDs Act, the Smart Heart Sports Coalition is helping to create a world where no young athlete has to lose their life to sudden cardiac arrest. CoroMed has the equipment and training to create such an environment, including the CoroMed School & Athletics Bundles.
Everything you need to equip your school to handle these types of emergencies is reliably here: An AED, pads, a multi-year battery for the device and much more.
With highly durable yet low-maintenance upkeep, you can count on CoroMed to ensure you’re putting safety first for your school and the young athletes who represent it for many years to come.