INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (WKRC) – Sudden cardiac arrest is the number one killer of high school athletes.
Ind. athletes must wait another year for life-saving devices to be required on sidelines (WKRC, Julie West)
Defibrillators, or AEDs, are considered life-saving devices, but Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky do not require them to be available on high school sidelines.
Jake West was 16 when he collapsed and died during football conditioning in Indiana.
Ind. athletes must wait another year for life-saving devices to be required on sidelines (Julie West)
His mother, Julie, has worked with legislators to push for a law to require an AED on every sideline. That bill unanimously passed out of the Senate, but stalled in the House this week.
“We want to educate people so they understand, ‘Wow, a life can be saved, and it could be yours,'” said Julie. “If you go down and collapse, wouldn’t you want someone there to save you with an AED?”
Senate Bill 306 has three main requirements regarding the life-saving device: that an AED be located on the sideline during a practice or game, that it’s easily accessible, and that it remains on the sideline for the entire “athletic activity.”
The bill also requires school districts to properly maintain the AED, to develop a sudden cardiac arrest response plan and to share that plan with coaches, assistants, even marching band leaders and other applicable students.
The Indiana General Assembly has a part-time legislature, so it doesn’t meet year-round. 2022’s General Assembly recently wrapped up its legislative session for the year.
“We are not giving up though,” Julie said on social media. “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.”
